The Undying Light
by Legendary Junk Mail
Summary: Commander Shepard won her war, defeating the Reapers. But after saving her cycle from certain extinction by firing the Crucible, she dies. Only to awake reborn in a new time and place. With only vague memories of her past, no one to rely on but her Ghost and alien enemies around every corner, it will be a challenge to just survive.
1. 1-New Beginnings

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **You are not the victim of the world, but rather the master of your own destiny. It is your choices and decisions that determine your destiny.**_ **" – Roy T. Bennett**

* * *

 **Arc I - Chapter 1**

 **New Beginnings**

In the void of space, she watched as her cycle fought. Starships of every colour and size. Of every configuration and nation. In the undying light of Sol, Commander Shepard stood alone. A choice made and accepted.

The intelligence that had been by her side to present her its options had long gone. Its purpose fulfilled and for all its flaws, Shepard couldn't help but feel pity for it. From her short conversations with it, Shepard couldn't help but get the impression that it never truly understood that which it had thought it was saving.

In her last moments, before the bright white light of the Crucible overtook her, Shepard could only feel relief. For her longest battle was won, and she could now rest knowing that the galaxy was in safe hands, to decide its own fate.

As the light consumed her, Shepard felt her feet leave the floor. Her body being thrown, the confusion that followed after losing her sense of up and down. Pain was fleeting, being replaced with a familiar feeling of nothing.

Finally, the motion stopped.

And Commander Shepard took her last, shuddering breath.

* * *

 **Somewhere Else – Some Other Time**

It was getting close to midnight, the moon rising high into the dark night sky. For most creatures of the planet, that would mean it was time to sleep, for the Ghost however, it meant it was time to wake up.

Light glimmering from its singular eye, blinking blearily as it began to survey its immediate surroundings. Taking in the rusted out car that had served for shelter, and the sandy planes that stretched on out for miles around.

Its shell rotated lazily, removing dust and sand. Revealing a myriad of scratches and dents. Scars.

Checking for land marks, the Ghost noted the towering pyramid that rose over the east horizon. Monuments made by man long ago that the Ghost knew would long outlive creations built even in the Golden Age.

The heavy storm that had forced it into hibernation for forty eight cycles had finally abated, and the Ghost concluded that it was safe to continue its mission.

Staying low to the ground, the Ghost once again began scanning the surrounding areas, checking the skeletal remains of cars and the broken monoliths of buildings long forgotten.

Continuing north-east on its long journey. Days passing by without notice, the unending sand eventually turning to earth and broken cities. Buildings, large palaces that would have once been teeming with life and culture long turned to dust and ruin. And still the Ghost searched.

Scans after scans. Corpse after corpse. Building after building. City after city and country after country, the Ghost continued its search for the one it would call Guardian. With each failure, each time the Light inside of it failed to respond, the Ghost grew despondent.

Eventually crossing a large body of water, one that it believed had once been called the Black Sea. The Ghost found itself encountering rocky terrain, and a more unhospitable climate than it had hoped, but the Ghost still persisted, eventually coming to a road built into the side of a small mountain top.

The roads themselves most likely millennia old, the Ghost noticed something odd. For one stretch of road ahead was gone, replaced with a crater the size of a small football pitch. Indeed, it looked as if a large sphere had been removed from the rock, and replaced with wreckage it did not recognise.

Cataloguing the anomaly, the Ghost moved to wander on… only to pause in curiosity. The wreckage was mainly comprised of some sort of metal, but something within the mechanical shell filled with Light felt drawn to it.

Floating down, the Ghost scanned a piece of the wreckage, and if it could frown, the Ghost would have. There was something odd about the composition of the metal.

Moving further into the wreckage, the Ghost continued to scan. Raw metal slowing giving way to computing equipment unlike anything filed in its database. Deciding this was something to investigate, the Ghost searched for some sort of terminal or interface.

Instead, it found some kind of chamber, large structural supports and a smooth floor. Running its beam of light over everything it could, the Ghost almost overlooked a small pile of debris. Except for a flicker of colour caught in the reflection of its scan.

Interested, the Ghost scanned the pile, and came across organic tissue, DNA. **Human** DNA.

Almost instinctively, the Ghost ran it through its processes, offered it to the Light, and for the first time, after untold cycles of searching, the Light accepted.

The Ghost floated silently for a moment, before the digital wall of emotion that the Ghost had long held back broke free.

" _By the Travelers Light…_ "

" _After so long, I've finally found you_ …"

Spinning in place, the Ghost danced in the air, letting emotion long buried fill the void. In the rush of emotions that the Ghost had long held away, protocol asserted itself.

" _Oh yes. Right, clothing and shelter. This climate_ _ **is**_ _rather hostile…_ "

Rushing back up to the road above, the Ghost was quick in its search, breaking down the materials it would need, such as fabric rubber and plastic from long dead car seats. Viable armour would also be necessary, but the strange metal that had lead it to its Guardian would useable.

Returning to the chamber, the Ghost almost quivered in excitement. Scanning the rather mangled looking corpse, the Ghost felt a rush of digital information as it once again confirmed the Lights choosing.

Calling the Light forth, the Ghost expanded its shell, allowing the Light to flow out and into the body. With a flare of bright white light, the Guardian was reborn.

* * *

The first thing she realised, upon waking, was that she could think.

The second thing she realised was that she her eyes were closed.

Opening them, the confused woman peered up at some sort of strange metal architecture. Lifting her hand, she stared at it uncomprehendingly. Who was she? Where was she?

A sudden chattering startled the woman, and she reacted on reflex. Reaching for something at her waist that wasn't there, her other hand shot out at a startling speed, grabbing the object that had been coming at her.

A voice cried out, and the woman felt confusion. Trying to shake off her grogginess, the woman looked around trying to find the origin of the voice.

The voice spoke up again, this time sounding as if it was almost standing in front of her. Jerking her head to look at the object she had caught, the woman stared back at a diamond shaped eye, nestled inside a metal shell made up of triangular pieces. She was holding it in her hand.

There was a beat of sudden silence, which was then followed with a feminine shriek of fear, the rather sharp sound echoing in the large chamber, and the strange talking object was instinctively thrown, landing with a loud crash on the other side of the room.

Afraid and confused, the woman attempted to scramble to her feet, ostensibly to run, but the sudden feeling of exhaustion turned it into awkward lurch that had her collapsing almost as soon as she had arisen.

More cries from the strange and incomprehensible floating thing, already flying back and hovering in front of her, blocking the only exit she could see. For the first time, the woman realises she could speak.

"What the hell are you?" Belatedly realising that she was at its mercy, she shrunk in on herself, "Please don't hurt me!"

The strange machine in front of her blinks its diamond shaped eye at her. At least, she thinks that it was a blink, since she assumes the diamond shaped icon in the center of its body is an eye, she can't really tell.

The floating thing stated something else that she still couldn't understand, before it seemed to rattle off a bunch of different languages. At least, she thinks they're different, some of the accents and words seemed more familiar than others.

"What about this one?"

Something on her face must have shown she understood, because the glowing floating thing did a little twirl and suddenly started making sense to her.

"Oh thank the Traveller. I'm glad we got that sorted out, at least."

Lifting a hand, she managed to get the things attention.

"What are you, or… who are you?" She asked again, cautiously peering at it.

"Oh, I'm a Ghost… well actually, now I'm **your** Ghost."

"Ghost?" She asked, she didn't recognise the name. Or now that she thought about it, her own name. Although before she could ask the thing, err… Ghost, it started talking again.

"Well, from what I can tell, you've been dead a while, and the first resurrection process doesn't include memories soooo… there **may** be some confusion."

 _Dead? I've been dead?_

 _For how long, and how am I alive now? Resurrection process?_

 _Is it telling the truth? I can't even remember my own name!_

"Yeah, you wouldn't happen to know my name, would you?"

The Ghost blinked, and now she was definitely sure that light in the center is an eye.

"Nope."

 _Very informative._

"How about where we are?"

Instead of answering with sass like she had expected, the Ghost lit up, literally, and projected a holographic rendition of a planet in front of her.

Startled, she backed away. The planet was rotating, and several markers with different colours appeared on different continents. Curiosity temporarily overriding her paranoia, the woman moved closer, eying the scrolling information that appeared in text form whenever she focused on a specific point.

A large red dot appeared on the globe, and the planet stopped moving. Allowing for the Ghost to move to float over her shoulder, and while she continued to eye it warily, the woman made no further moves to distance herself.

"We're… here." The Ghost claimed, a small laser pointer projecting from its eye connected with the dot. "On the border for the old countries of Georgia and Russia."

The woman shivered slightly, a cold breeze that she had previously managed to ignore making itself known, and she clutched the clothes that she only now realised she had on tighter to herself.

"So what now?"

Humming, the Ghost gave a few digital chirps, before a red line began tracing its way north of the red dot, following some unknown trail, before abruptly turning east into what the map claimed was ' _Kazakhstan'_.

"We will need to get to The Last City… it's one of the only safe places left on Earth, and other Guardians will be located there."

Tracing the map with her finger, the woman nodded slowly, accepting that if she wanted to survive the next few weeks, she was going to need the floating thing.

"So this 'Last City' is somewhere here in ' _Kaz-ac-stan_ '?"

Shaking itself in what the woman recognised as a similar motion to a human shaking its head, the Ghost corrected her.

"No, the Last City is located over here, on another continent. But Guardians used to frequent this area in Kazakhstan, and there should be several Cosmodromes we can scavenge from if not."

Nodding in understanding, the woman shivered again, her teeth clacking together noisily as the cold gained a more uncomfortable quality.

The bright blue globe winked out of existence, "Oh my! Your body temperature is dropping!"

Whizzing around to face her again, the Ghost seemed alarmed, which for some reason made the woman feel horrible, the emotion coming out of absolutely nowhere.

"Here, come quickly. I scouted out an alcove that should keep the elements at bay."

Floating off towards the exit, the woman once again tried to stand, this time managing, before setting off at a slow hobble after the annoying Ghost.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Random crossover idea I've had in my head a while. Read a few other Destiny and Mass Effect crossovers, but none of them really filled the niche. Usually because Shepard isn't the only one getting pulled over, or the authors sticking a little too close to the game story line.

I took most of my inspiration from Melaradark, whose own Destiny series is something I would definitely recommend you give a read.

In a final note, I'm afraid I am a Mass Effect fan, and I only ever played the original destiny on my old Xbox 360 years ago, so I'm not going to bother too much with serious lore. I'll look up references, watch YouTube videos of the two games, and I might end up getting Destiny 2 sometime in the future. But don't expect anything drastic or specific.

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, and any others I write in the future…

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	2. 2-Understanding

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

 _"_ ** _No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."_ – Gautama Buddha**

* * *

 **Arc I - Chapter 2**

 **Understanding**

 _The world darkening, shadows the size of buildings…_

 _Glass raining from the sky, glittering red…_

" _We fight or we die!"_

 _People running in terror, children being pulled by parents…_

" _Go out there and give them hell."_

 _Monsters chasing…_

" _I've had enough of your tabloid journalism!"_

 _Ships exploding in the sky…_

" _Come back to me, Jane."_

 _A red beam carving its way towards-_

With a scream of terror, the woman awoke, arms coming up with her fists clenched. Eyes darting around and assessing her surroundings, cataloguing details.

Snow, ice, rock, earth, wood, fire, _exit_ , _**movement**_.

Breathing heavily, the woman whipped her head towards the moment, revealing a faded white object peering at her from behind a rock. Staring at each other for a moment, the woman continued breathing, adrenaline and nerves slowing and settling.

It took a moment, but logic asserted itself over instinct, and the woman breathed out, lowering her arms and unclenching her fists.

 _What was that?_

The floating object, her Ghost, came out from behind its rock. Whizzing to float in front of her. She hadn't really looked at the Ghost all that closely. But the dents, scratched and worn appearance of its shell spoke of time and experience, something inside of her acknowledging it.

She closed her eyes, calming herself as she tried to understand the images and sounds that felt muted compared to mere seconds ago.

"They were memories."

Jerking her eyes open, she stared at the Ghost, her pale complexion going even paler at the machines words.

"What?" She whispered.

"They were memories, I think… it's all rather jumbled and blurry." It replied.

 _Can it actually read my mind?!_

The Ghost blinked at her, "Kind of, though only surface thoughts mostly."

Staring at the thing in surprise, the woman felt emotions boiling up inside her mind. Irrational anger and hostility, combined with a strange mix of paranoia and despair that seemed to only fuel her rage further.

"Well, could you **not** do that?!" She snapped.

The Ghost shrank back, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy… not that she knew what a puppy was anyway. Or what it looked like.

She was distracted from her own jumbled thoughts by the mind reading Ghost. Its voice cutting though her distracted mind.

"I'm sorry, really, but were linked! The Light that's now inside of you is also inside of me!"

With serious effort, the woman rained in her wild emotions, asserting a level of control that came surprisingly easy to her. Yet more unanswered questions, more quirks that have no memories attached that should.

Breathing through her nose and out through her mouth, the woman bottled up the wild emotions she could barely understand, and instead attempted to backtrack. Recalling the Ghosts earlier words that had set her off in the first place.

"You said that they were memories."

As if nothing had happened. The Ghost once again perked up at her calm words, and moved to float next to her.

"Yes. I didn't really understand much of it, but it looks like you're from the time of the Collapse."

The woman frowned, the memories of buildings falling, families running. "Collapse?"

The Ghost nodded, "When the Traveller first arrived, it gifted humanity with knowledge, understanding and technology. It was called the Golden Age, a time of unparalleled prosperity. But it didn't last."

Lighting up again like it had back in the chamber, the Ghost projected the image of a giant sphere-like object, and it took the woman a moment to realise that the light underneath it was a horizon, and that the object beneath that was a **planet**.

 _Holy hell, that thing is massive!_

"Yes. Unfortunately for us all, the Traveller has an enemy. We call it The Darkness."

The image changed, morphing into figures, aliens. They were all different, some looking entirely mechanical, while others looked downright toxic to her.

"The Darkness is like the Light, except its natural opposite. The two sides have been in conflict for eons, and now the Darkness is winning."

The images changed once again. An enormous city emerging, with the Traveller looming above it, what had once been a smooth surface now marred with scars.

"The Traveller managed to fight off the Darkness, but was wounded in the process. That's where we come in." the Ghost almost sounded proud, "The Traveller now sleeps, but it still sends out Ghosts, who travel the Earth, locating and reviving those it deems needed."

The hologram faded, and the woman turned and looked at the little Ghost.

"Guardians. Like you… Jane."

Leaning back, the woman. Jane. Tried to process everything she had just learned. The Ghost left her to her thoughts, whizzing off, claiming to be going in search of more firewood.

Sitting on the floor of the cave, Jane stared into the fire before her and thought.

This Darkness, whatever it was. It was clearly a threat.

The thought alone sent a powerful urge through her, willing her into action, to stand up and fight. But at the same time, a different urge, one that felt old and tired, asked whether such a fight was worth it, worth the cost, and worth the sacrifice.

Staring into the fire, Jane thought of her dream, her memories. She thought of the child she had seen, who was in all likelihood dead by now. She thought of the voice calling her name, at the end.

Did she even have a choice?

Would the Ghost simply leave, if she said no? Could it reverse the process it used to revive her, simply shut her off like a machine, like a puppet with its strings cut?

She needed to make a choice, and she didn't have all the facts.

Looking up at the snow falling outside the cave, Jane couldn't help but compare it to the Darkness, and the fire in front of her to the Light. She could fight the snow, she could find more fuel for the fire, but at the end of the day, the fire would one day die out.

But the snow would also someday melt. Everything had an end, but that didn't mean that which now existed shouldn't be preserved. Futile as it would be.

As her Ghost returned, Jane smiled. She had made her choice.

* * *

 **Several hours later**

The snow had finally stopped falling, and the moon was just beginning to go behind the top of an adjacent mountain, which meant it was time to start packing up and getting ready to move.

Standing up, Jane grunted as stretched, her joints cracking and popping as she released the tension that had built up overnight.

Her Ghost was already active, floating about the cave, dissolving the leftover firewood and anything else that they could take with them.

It had freaked her out at first, when it had whizzed into the cave and shone its light, magically making wood appear out of thin air.

It had apparently sensed her thoughts, as it had been quick to explain that it was actually a rather interesting ability that all Ghosts wielded. Not only could they store digital information, like a mobile computer, but also transfer matter into digital information.

They had limits though, as according to her Ghost the more complex an item, the more data was needed to effectively store it. Apparently it was less an issue of mass, and more an issue of how everything was put together.

According to it, Guardians stored the majority of their blueprints and other designs on things called Engrams, and Ghosts simply held onto the raw materials needed to create the objects instead.

It was why she was so surprised when her Ghost presented her with a rugged but rather durable and warm looking cloak. The weaved material was rather complex when you thought about it, and despite it being rather obviously put together via more car seats, Jane thought it looked to be rather comfortable.

From what she understood, her shirt and pants were made from the remains of the armour she had been wearing before her Ghost had found her. Jane steadily ignoring the fact that she was wearing clothing that had been fashioned from the armour on her corpse.

Wrapping the patchwork cloak around her shoulders and pinning it across her chest, Jane grabbed a long and thick piece of wood she had set aside for helping her walk, before turning to face her Ghost.

"Well. How do I look?"

Despite not having a face, she got the distinct impression that if it had, it would have been smiling at her.

"Prepared." It replied, before floating over to the mouth of the cave. "Shall we?"

Shaking her head in amusement, Jane pulled the hood over the top of her head and followed.

"Lead the way."

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

A shorter chapter, literally written in a day. Felt this was something worth showing, as ForbiddenFandom so kindly reviewed, letting me know that I'm not the only one unknowing of Destiny Lore.

In the game, in both of them now that I think about it, your Ghost does most of the talking. The idea that they're linked to each other, and that a Ghost can tell what a Guardian is thinking, is my way of expanding on that. I'll probably expand upon that even more at some point. I have a few ideas.

I was planning on periodic updates, but I'm having far too much fun writing this. I'll probably write more over the course of the next few days.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	3. 3-Learning

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **Even if things don't unfold the way you expected, don't be disheartened or give up. One who continues to advance will win in the end."**_ **– Daisaku Ikeda**

* * *

 **Arc I - Chapter 3**

 **Learning**

Crouching just before an outcropping of rock, Jane watched on as the strange aliens shambled past. She'd been moving north for the past eight days, and this was the first time she had come across any sort of life, hostile or otherwise.

"Careful. They're the Fallen."

The fact that her Ghost was whispering, despite them being both upwind and over half a kilometre away was more than enough of a reason for her to take these guys seriously. Even if he hadn't been, the fact that all she had in the way of armour and weapons was a cloak made of car seats and a wooden stick with a sharp piece of metal attached assuaged closer inspection anyway.

"Fallen?"

Moving closer to her, her Ghost spoke a bit louder.

"They used to serve the Light, they called themselves the Eliksni. But they betrayed the Traveller, grew to be unworthy, and thus became the Fallen."

With that bit of knowledge tucked away for further query, Jane instead focused on getting a read on a few of the Fallen that appeared to have strayed further out from the pack. While she consciously noted the biggest of the three had an extra set of arms, she only realised that she'd also noted their likely mass, reach, weapons and weak points after she'd actively done so.

Huffing in annoyance, she hunkered down further, the cold starting to catch up to her now that she wasn't actively moving. Her meagre underclothes and heavy cloak were preventing her from freezing to death, but she still wasn't even close to comfortable.

Returning her attention to the hostile aliens in front of her, Jane managed to regain her line of sight on the separated group just in time. Watching as one of the smaller aliens stepped onto weak snow, the resulting avalanche taking both of the smaller Fallen in a matter of seconds, with the big guy getting dragged in when the entire section of cliff simply shifted and fell.

Several scouts from the main pack broke away to investigate the catastrophic noise, but seemed unconcerned for the fate of their comrades once they figured out it wasn't an enemy attack, running to re-join the pack, which hadn't even stopped moving.

Watching the pack of Fallen crest the hill and disappear out of sight, Jane grabbed her spear and hauled herself out of the snow. Startling her Ghost as she did so, Jane set off at a light jog, stopping short of where the snow had given way.

"Hey! Careful, you don't want to join the Fallen down there."

Peering over the edge, Jane figured it was a good six hundred meter drop, and struggled to see anything other than snow at the bottom. She reckoned that the drop was far enough that the Fallen that had gotten caught up in the avalanche shouldn't have survived.

Turning to face her Ghost, Jane smiled at him. Then jumped, the last words she heard before the wind blocked out all other sound was the shocked cries of her Ghost. The last thought she had before she hit the ground was; at least she could keep some secrets from him.

* * *

 _In the blackness of the void, orange light arcs out…_

" _I am Harbinger of your perfection."_

 _Breath stolen, gasps of air that remain unfulfilled…_

" _You cannot stop us."_

 _Green grass and strange bodies, four eyes stare lifelessly…_

" _Pain is an illusion."_

 _A giant construct floating in the void, red energy lancing out…_

" _Kill one and one hundred will replace it."_

 _A graveyard of ships, broken and defeated…_

" _You have no one left, Shep-"_

* * *

With a groan of pain, she regained consciousness. Her legs felt like they were being roasted over an open fire, and it felt like her spine was threatening to rip itself straight out of her back.

"What on _Earth_ were you thinking?!"

With one final groan, Jane opened her eyes. Only to be met with the sight of her Ghost, hovering over her head and shining light directly into her eyes.

Swatting him aside, Jane pulled herself upright, taking stock of her surroundings. From where she now sat, she could tell that she had landed a little closer to the cliff face than she had wanted, but apart from that, she had accomplished what she had wanted.

"Hello? Insane Guardian? You jumped off a cliff and **died**!"

Snorting in amusement, Jane waved her Ghost away.

"Yeah, but you revived me. Just like you said you would."

Making a chirping sound that sounded close to spluttering, her Ghost seemed to get even more hysterical.

"Like I said I would? When?! When did I say that?"

Getting herself upright, Jane looked around for her spear, spotting it sticking out of the snow a few meters away. Walking over to collect it, Jane stretched her arms above her head.

"The other day. You said that one of your jobs as my Ghost was to revive me if I got myself killed, or heal me if I got injured."

Grabbing the wooden spear, she pulled the head out of the snow with a small grunt.

"Okay. Now that we know you can revive me, let's see if we can't find those Fallen."

Leaving her Ghost in what she could only describe as stunned silence, Jane began methodically prodding her spear into the shifted snow at regular intervals. Working from the left most area towards the right.

After a few moments of silent prodding, her Ghost floated up next to her, grumbling.

"Next time you decide to jump off something, could you at least warn me… please."

Smirking, Jane continued prodding, and after another few moments of silence, her Ghost seemed to give up on getting a verbal response. Instead, he made a digital chirp that might have been a huff, before moving to the other end of the disturbed snow, and began scanning.

It took them just a little under half an hour to locate the big one, which her Ghost helpfully identified as a Vandal. The other smaller two were most likely buried too deep under the snow for them to reach in a reasonable time, and Jane felt it best not to push their luck any further.

Pulling the alien corpse out of the hole they had dug was surprisingly easy, her Ghost stating that the Light that she now held within her provided her increased strength, among other benefits.

It was only as Jane moved over to remove the fur pelt it was wearing around its shoulders did she realise her mistake. The alien's small and numerous eyes snapping open as it simultaneously roared in rage.

Stumbling back and onto her ass, her only saving grace was that the Fallen Vandal's legs were rather obviously broken, and it afforded her the time needed to get up and brandish her spear.

The fight itself was rather anticlimactic, the alien acting more on instinct than conscious thought. It managed a few wild swipes with its swords, and made far too much noise for her liking, before she used her spear's longer reach to stab the alien in the throat and pin it to the ground.

Its cries of rage slowly trailing off into gurgles as it choked on its own blood, which began to seep out and coat the surrounding snow, dying it a rather disturbing shade of purple.

It was only after she was absolutely sure the four armed alien had died that Jane removed her spear, and after sticking it into the snow within easy reach, began searching and stripping it of anything useful.

* * *

 **Later that day**

With one final look outside, Jane turned and headed into the rather small but cosy igloo she and her Ghost had made. Although igloo wasn't quite right, she'd dug into the snow in a more sheltered area and built a roof over the top.

It meant no fire, but with her new clothes, the snow insulated her body heat and protected her from the wind and snowfall.

Laid out on the small amount of floor space she had was everything she had managed to loot.

Two Shock Blades, a Dagger, three grenades and what her Ghost called a Wire Rifle. Not to mention the fur pelt and extra armouring materials that were now laid out to one side for her Ghost to mess with.

Sitting down, Jane started figuring out how best to utilise everything at her disposal.

The shock blades, she eventually decided, were going to be attached to the end of her spear, while the dagger and grenades were going on her newly acquired belt.

The fur pelt would be integrated into her cloak, lining the hood and neck area, while her Ghost worked to merge some the strange metal she had been found surrounded by into the chest piece and arm guards she had scavenged.

Alongside all that, there was the Fallen Vandal's Rifle. The strange and alien design meant that it wasn't built for human use, but Jane reckoned that with a bit of modification, she would be able to use it.

Prising off the metal plates that covered the rifles inner workings, Jane was surprised by just how compact everything was. If she wasn't mistaken, it looked like a human sized rifle had been placed in a bigger, Fallen sized frame.

 _Maybe it was. The Fallen are scavengers as much as I am right now._

Getting to work, Jane didn't even notice when the sun dipped under the horizon, and she continued pulling the rifle apart even after her Ghost started providing her torch light to work by. Occasionally, she would ask questions about the Fallen, and her Ghost would answer, giving her more questions to ask.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

I decided to give Jane a lucky break here, as I wanted her to slowly start upgrading her gear over time, without making her suddenly over powered or too under powered. Pretty much everything she's going to be using for the next three or four chapters is going to be scavenged or repurposed gear.

Also introduced the respawn mechanic, and Jane's seemingly okay idea with it. After all, without her memories, how is she to know that the reason she doesn't fear death is because she's already died once before?

Don't know when this chapter will be going up, my internet is proving difficult, and timing me out every time I try to save something on

The chapter after this one will be set about another week after this one. Keeping up with the steady time skips to cut out travel time and the other boring crap.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	4. 4-Bonding

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect."**_ **– Ralph Waldo Emerson**

* * *

 **Arc I - Chapter 4**

 **Bonding**

The days were starting to blur together. Wake, clean up, walk, stop, walk, settle, and sleep. The only thing that changed was the scenery, which remained stunning for the most part, and the topics she and her Ghost discussed to pass the time.

Travelling from the peaks of the mountains, they continued heading north, and in that time Jane learned a lot about her new companion.

According to her Ghost, most of the Ghosts that were sent out by the Traveller every month would return with a new guardian. However, every once in a while, a Ghost would head out, and never return. The Ghosts that disappeared would sometimes be found by Guardian patrols, broken and dead. Killed, it appeared, by the Fallen.

As she came to understand, Ghosts were surprisingly fragile machines, and because of this, they would search quickly, hoping to find an acceptable host within a month, two on the outset. Any longer was considered a death sentence, as Fallen actively hunted the Ghosts wherever they found them.

For her own Ghost, Jane learned that the little guy had been searching for her the past **ten years**. Apparently scouring the better part of three different continents looking for her, took some serious time and patience.

"Why?" She had asked, "What makes me so different?"

Apparently, the Light contained inside of him did the choosing part, her Ghost was just the messenger. Still, it was impressive, that most Ghosts could only survive a couple months without a Guardian, hers had managed for ten years on its own without protection.

Coming to a stop just outside what looked like a small forest, Jane looked back at the way they had come. The rocky white tipped mountains in the distance looked far less hostile than when she had been traversing them, and Jane was noticing the air was getting progressively warmer.

As they continued, she asked her Ghost about their connection. About the Light they now shared.

Apparently, it wasn't just one way, and while Ghosts could glean surface thoughts, emotions and feelings, she could do the same with him. As well as this, apparently more experienced Guardians have found that their personalities influenced their Ghosts, a few spotty reports of a few even gaining limited telepathy.

Continuing on their journey, it was still rather cold, more so when day turned to night, but it was becoming more manageable and Jane no longer needed to build shelter every night to sleep safely. It was while she was setting up their latest camp, that she spotted some edible berries growing on a nearby bush.

Picking a few of them, she popped a few of them in her mouth, and as she did she came to a surprising realization.

"I haven't eaten anything in over a month."

Her Ghost seemed surprised by the statement, speaking up at the implied question.

"The Light inside you now provides you all the energy you need, technically you don't need to eat. Though you can still consume and enjoy food normally, I think."

Pondering that, Jane located and dragged a nearby tree trunk to sit upon. Unslinging her rifle from her back, she took care to place it within easy reach, her spear already laid next to it, before sitting back and watching as her Ghost started a fire inside a small circle of stones it had collected.

"What else can the Light do?"

Turning to look at her, Jane got the feeling that her Ghost was smiling.

"You already know that the Light sustains you, allows me to revive you, and is the natural enemy of the Darkness." Floating over to her, her Ghost continued, "But one of the biggest advantages of the Traveller's Light, is that it gifts to you the ability to wield it yourself."

Blinking in surprise, Jane leaned back and motioned for him to continue.

"The Vanguard, who protect the Last City, are made up of three different types of Guardians… classes you could say. First are the Titans, they are known to wear the heaviest of armours, utilise the biggest guns and whose Light forms heavy shields and heavier attacks."

"Next are the Hunters, they utilise speed, stealth and marksmanship to kill their targets while evading damage, they wield their Light with precision and can manipulate it to enhance themselves or their weapons."

"And finally there are the Warlocks, who are known as researchers and philosophers, who question everything and wield the powers gifted by the Traveller in combination with modern weapons."

Leaning back, Jane tried to digest all of the information that had just been presented to her, staying silent for a while, simply watching the fire while she thought.

 _And I'm supposed to be one of these Guardians, these wielders of Light?_

Eventually she roused herself from her thoughts, "So which one am I? A Titan, Hunter or Warlock?"

Her Ghost chirped in what Jane was starting to recognise as curiosity.

"I'm not really sure. Lord Shaxx has always decided on a newborn Guardians class. To me you could fit all three." Floating around her head, he continued, "The strength of will to be a Titan, the precision and resourcefulness of a Hunter, and the curiosity and intelligence of a Warlock."

Jane smirked, "Flatterer."

"It's true!" Her Ghost exclaimed. "Every Ghost I've come across has claimed that their Guardian would be a _great_ _Titan_ , or was an _expert_ _Warlock_ , but you embody the traits that define all three."

Placing her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands together, Jane rested her head on top, an action that her Ghost was starting to categorise as her 'thinking pose'.

"You've met other Ghosts?"

She could tell her Ghost was unsure as to where she was going with this, but he humoured her all the same, answering with the same earnest hope she had come to expect from him.

"I was searching for you for ten years, I bumped into quite a few Guardians and their Ghosts."

Quirking an eyebrow, Jane continued, "How do people tell you apart? I mean, if you're all called 'Ghost', do you paint your shells?"

Her Ghost nodded, "Some do, others have different shells constructed to better suit their purposes. Although most Guardians end up giving more personal names to their Ghosts."

Jane leaned back, as if some great puzzle had been solved.

"The I guess since we don't have any new shells or spare paint lying around, I should give you a name, yes? In my head I just refer to you as 'My Ghost'."

Rotating his shell in what Jane was she was sure was excitement, he moved to float in front of her.

"If you would like." He stated, sounding for all the world like he was unconcerned. Jane smirked. The link, after all, went both ways.

"Hmmm… How about… **Urz?** "

Quirking up to look her, horror in the little ball's eyes, Jane felt a wave of dread build from her companion, and her own amusement grew.

"Err… How about something… anything else?"

Smiling, Jane opened her mouth, about to suggest another name off the top of her head.

 _Snap!_

Jane froze, the sudden rush of instinct demanding she locate the source of the sound making her eyes dart around their camp. Her Ghost too, had paused where it floated, slowly swaying back and forth as it tried to identify where the noise had come from.

When no immediate attack came, Jane spoke. Her hand slowly creeping towards her rifle as she did so.

"What are the odds that was just some sort of… wild animal?"

Quietly floating to the safety of her shoulder, her Ghost kept his voice low.

"We _are_ in a forest… though now that you mention it, it's a very quiet forest."

A few more moments of silence persisted, with Jane and her Ghost scanning the tree line, searching the shadows for the slightest movement.

With a roar, a Fallen Dreg ripped itself from a nearby bush behind them, daggers held in each hand as it charged them.

In one smooth movement, Jane ducked and rolled, scooped up her rifle, brought herself up into a crouch and fired. An arc of energy lashing out from the barrel of her rifle hit the two armed alien dead center, dropping it with one shot.

The moment she had fired however, seemed to be some sort of trigger, as several more roars went out around the edges of their camp as more Fallen Dregs burst from the shadows, knives and pistols drawn.

Spinning in place, Jane acted on instinct, her head moving on a swivel even as she brought her rifle up to fire, putting another two Dregs down within seconds.

She managed three more before they closed range, leaving four for her to deal with. Her Ghost was acting as a second set of eyes, calling out enemy positions when they moved to encircle her.

It was only thanks to her Ghost's shout of warning that Jane managed to turn and block an overhead downward strike by a Vandal, using her rifle to block the aliens bigger set of arms holding a rather nasty looking shock blade.

Moving quickly, Jane shifted her weight, deflecting the blow to one side, and throwing the alien off balance long enough for her to draw her own scavenged knife. Moving as fast as she could, she lashed out with her foot, knocking the alien onto its back. She swiped with her knife, cutting the tendons of its sword arm.

On the ground, disarmed and crippled, it was a simple matter to lift her rifle one handed, putting the four armed alien down, even as she turned to keep her eyes on the remaining four Dregs that had kept circling her.

A quick glance let her know that she expended the last of her rifles ammunition, and there was no way she would be able to reload before she was swarmed and killed.

Dropping her rifle, Jane shifted into a combat stance, switching the knife to her left hand as she moved to keep all four aliens in her sights.

Rotating around the campfire, Jane shifted her shoulders, and used her cloak to conceal her right arm, reaching back to her belt for her grenades.

Either sensing what she was about to do, or just having simultaneously the best and worst luck of all time, one of the Dregs screeched, before it raised a pistol and fired.

The shot hit her in the left shoulder, knocking her back and down with a cry of pain. The motion however, gave Jane the momentum she needed to throw her cloak back and throw two of her grenades at once, both of them sailing over the campfire to land at the offending alien's feet.

Hitting the ground with a grunt of pain, she rolled over even as her breath was knocked out of her lungs, the last thing Jane saw before she blacked out from the shock and pain was a flash of white light, as the two grenades went off simultaneously.

* * *

" _Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken."_

 _A massive construct with five arms, floating in a vibrant space…_

" _The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom."_

" _Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished."_

 _Standing by a window, a planet burns bellow…_

" _We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite."_

" _Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure."_

 _Two fleets of immense size face each other, one uniform, the other diverse…_

" _Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction."_

" _This exchange is over."_

* * *

With a gasp for air, Jane returned to the land of the living. Clawing at the ground, she found herself looking up at the clear black sky, stars shining in the space beyond. The sight didn't comfort her.

"Jane? Jane! It's alright, don't panic, I've got you."

Memories suddenly flashing before her, Jane jerked herself upright, searching the clearing for hostiles. Her Ghost moving to float in front of her, radiating concern for her.

"Don't worry, you got them all."

Heaving, Jane felt like she might throw up. Apparently sensing her rising panic, her Ghost (who she still hadn't come up with a name for) scanned her.

"I don't understand, your perfectly healthy… you were fine after I revived you the last time as well."

Shaking her head, Jane gestured to her shoulder, "No. It was different last time."

More confident in her ability to refrain from vomiting, Jane dragged herself to a nearby tree, leaning against it as she took deep breaths of fresh air.

"Control." She explained, "Last time, I had control. I was in control."

Shaking itself, her Ghost stared at her in what she guessed was astonishment.

"You are a strange one, aren't you?"

Before Jane could reply, a shot rang out.

 _Crack!_

And her Ghost spun away in a shower of sparks.

Jerking upright, Jane spotted the shooter. The Vandal was holding what looked like a hand cannon, blood smearing its armour as it tried to shakily aim at her as well.

With a roar of rage, Jane lunged into a combat roll to her right, where her spear was still leaning against the wooden log she had been sitting on before.

Ignoring several shots that whizzed by her harmlessly, Jane turned and launched her spear at the Fallen with everything she had. The two blades strapped to the end fizzling with arc energy as it flew through the air, embedding itself in the Vandal's chest and pinning it to a nearby tree.

As the alien corpse continued to spasm from the weapons energy, Jane turned and looked desperately for her Ghost. A small column of smoke drifting up from behind some bushes alerting her to his location.

Running to her Ghost, Jane found him lying on the ground, one of the triangular pieces of his shell was rather obviously missing, but as she approached, her heart eased as her Ghost limped back into the air with a digital groan.

Sinking to her knees, Jane cupped her Ghost in her hands, allowing him to rest in her grasp.

With a groan, her Ghost spoke, "Okay… Lesson learned, no more mocking the Guardian."

With a laugh that could have easily been a sob, Jane smiled as she examined the damage. The missing piece of shell exposed the black ball that was nestled inside, a deep grove in the black metal showing how close the bullet came to being a killing blow.

"Damn… that thing really fucked you up good."

Standing back up, her Ghost still held in the palms of her hands, Jane began to trek back to their dying campfire. A word that she didn't really understand popped into her head, and despite herself it wormed its way to her lips.

"FUBAR." She declared, when her Ghost looked up at her inquisitively. "I think I'll call you Fubar."

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

 _FUBAR – Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition_. A military saying that I'm rather fond of saying myself.

Thank you to a guest reviewer named Guest-Questioner, who pointed me towards a YouTube creator who has compiled a complete video of Destiny Lore from the very start of the Lore's timeline, all the way to the beginning of Destiny 2. Very useful! The creators name is "My name is Byf", if you're looking for a way to learn more about Destiny, look no further.

I'm also getting reviews (Yay!) asking for longer chapters. Which I will always take as a good thing. However, I'm writing these chapters day by day, in the hopes of keeping things from getting bogged down with Writers Block, Boredom and my ever wandering focus.

Still, I hear you, and this one was longer than any of the others before, and that may continue. No promises though. I don't know how long this spate of writing will last!

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	5. 5-Progress

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **You are here to make a difference, to either improve the world or worsen it. And whether or not you consciously choose to, you will accomplish one or the other."**_ **– Richelle E. Goodrich**

* * *

 **Arc I - Chapter 5**

 **Progress**

Out in the grasslands of old Russia, stretches of unending planes were only interrupted by the occasional broken building or rusted farming equipment. Aside from the few trees that nested chirping birds, it was a peaceful, quiet place.

Streaking across open the grass lands, wind whipping her rusty red hair in all directions, Jane had to resist the urge to whoop out loud. The Fallen vehicle that Fubar had identified as a Pike was always an absolute blast to drive.

Revving the engine, she leaned forwards, watching the alien speedometer rise into the red as she whipped across the open fields. Every time she sat down on the bike, Jane had felt nothing but a sense of childish joy.

It was also cutting down their travel time, according to her Ghost, they were now hitting the boarder for Kazakhstan. The poor thing was still suffering from that hand cannon shot from the Fallen Vandal. His ability to fly hampered to the point where he now spent most of his time tucked away in the hood of her cloak.

"Would it be so painful for you to drive a little slower?! Please!"

And ever since they had acquired their new mode of transportation, the little light had made a habit out of criticising her driving skills. Constantly.

"If I had a stomach, I would be regurgitating its contents by now!"

Gunning it over a small ditch, Jane couldn't help but hit the boosters, the Fallen vehicle soaring through the air and as it came down they only narrowly avoided a low broken brick wall.

"Oh be quiet, you back seat driver! We're fine…" A sharp tug on the handle bars had them avoid a lamp post, signifying the overgrown thicket they were driving over was in fact an old overgrown road. "See? Perfectly fine!"

Deciding to follow the overgrown road, it was only a few minutes before the vegetation began to slowly recede. Buildings and more rusted out cars beginning to dot the landscape more frequently as they moved towards the old Cosmodromes. The spires that still pierced the sky marking the way forward for her, and as they began to get closer still, a new construction began to appear over the horizon.

The massive metal wall that seemed to grow in height and length the closer they got was one of the checkpoints her Ghost had told her to look out for. Fubar had been rather skimpy on the details, but from what she had gathered, she would be fighting more Fallen once she got past it.

It was as the sun began to crest in the sky that the road she had been following finally ended. The constant stream of rusted out cars leading right into the wall, where massive blast doors had long closed on them.

It looked to have recently snowed, leaving everything uncovered with a thin layer of white power that did nothing to conceal the bones of the dead. The skeletons that quite literally littered the road seemed almost haunting, with Jane spotting several that seemed to have died sitting in their seats, with little indication as to what had actually caused their deaths.

Personally, Jane was figuring some sort of chemical or gas attack, the bodies of the fallen people were most likely people seeking shelter from it within the massive walls that protected the Cosmodrome.

Coming to a halt just outside the blast doors, she killed the engine. The Pike was too big to fit through the broken and rusted holes that dotted the old defensive structure. If she was going to continue, it was going to have to be done on foot from here on out.

Unloading all her equipment from the bike, she grabbed her new backpack first, containing some extra clothing, tech and ammunition, before slinging it over her right shoulder over the top of her cloak, her rifle following a moment later.

Checking that her knives, grenades, spare ammunition and her new hand cannon were firmly attached to her belt, she pulled her hood up over her head and a thick piece of fabric she was using as a scarf over the top of her nose, before grabbing her spear and attaching a spare grenade from her bag to the engine block of the Pike.

Sprinting for the nearest cover, she dived behind a nearby car wreck just in time, as the Pike erupted into a giant fireball a few moments later. Giving it a few more seconds, Jane wasn't surprised when the Pike burned for a few long seconds, before the flames found whatever it used as fuel, sending shrapnel and flaming debris in every direction as it exploded once again.

"Well that was subtle." Came Fubar's expected comment, a few moments later. Her wounded Ghost peeking out from between her scarf and her hood to survey the flaming wreckage.

Rolling her eyes at her sarcastic companion, Jane picked herself up and dusted her clothes off.

"Oh please, like I was just going to leave a perfectly working vehicle here for the Fallen to scavenge once I'm gone."

As if to prove her Ghost's point, several cries rose up from back the way they'd come, followed by more from inside the wall. The shrieks were undeniably from the Fallen, and Jane muttered a few choice words under her breath as she got herself moving.

Making her way towards a rather damaged section of the wall, Jane once again checked that her ammunition was safely secure on her belt. The slightly glowing boxes were something she was finding strangely difficult to adapt to.

The boxes would respond to her touch, materialising a specific type of ammo magazine in her hand that she could then insert into her hand cannon or sniper rifle. However, for some strange reason, she kept forgetting that she needed them, instead expecting her guns to inexplicably reload themselves after a few moments of waiting.

Reaching the base of the wall, she vaulted on top of a car and used her spear to prise one of the rusted panels off, jumping up inside before pulling the sheet of rusted metal back into its original place.

Turning to look around, Jane found herself in some sort of service corridor, with structural supports criss-crossing above her head while old and damaged electrical wiring dangled like artificial vines in metal trees.

Light was intermittently piercing the walls, making visibility possible but difficult.

With the press of a button, the shock blades on the end of her spear came to life, providing Jane flickering but useful lighting as she forged ahead, heading deeper into the old construction.

Coming to a set of metal mesh stairs that seemed to go on forever, they eventually lead her to out into a better lit area, where old windows still painted with faded lettering and logos allowed orange tinted light to aluminate rusted grating and machinery.

Looking around, Jane saw several different directions she could go. Some looked to be following the edge of the wall, while she assumed that the two doorways set between the old faded blue machinery lead further into the abandoned facility.

"Fubar? Which way?"

Poking his head out, her injured Ghost projected what looked like rudimentary schematics in front of her. A few points and lines indicating paths that would no doubt lead her though the maze of machinery and metal.

Zooming in on a specific section, her Ghost spoke up. "I've been through here once before, though it was a different section of the wall." He claimed, "It's all fairly uniform though, so the second door leading further in should lead you into the ventilation systems."

The map moved on, highlighting several large looking metal tunnels.

"Follow the vents and you should come out the other side, though you may have to take detours if the bulkheads are closed."

Quickly memorising the basic route, Jane nodded, allowing the map to fade and her Ghost to retreat under her clothing once again, before she set off on the provided route.

Several times she had to stop, the sounds of skittering Fallen and broken debris forcing her to ask Fubar for alternate directions. Eventually however, she found a doorway that lead into the ventilation shafts, the large cylinder shaped rooms were dotted with enormous fans that were once used to move massive amounts of fresh air, now sat twisted and still.

Ducking under the large fan blades, light soon asserted itself as they made it to the other side. Revealing a large body of water off to the left, while what looked like the remains of the road seemed to rise up on broken concreate pillars and go in several directions.

The nearby buildings looked more intact, the place looked like a snipers wet dream combined with a conventional army's worst nightmare. Although despite making all of these observations, Jane found her focus fixating on one rather key detail. Namely, the several hundred Fallen spread out and clearly occupying the entire area.

Ducking back and low, Jane watched as several drop ships flew by, kicking up dust and loose vegetation, flying over the top of her head and back towards the way they had come from.

"I thought this place was supposed to be frequented by Guardians, not occupied by an entire Fallen House." Jane whispered.

While her Ghost muttered about time and his own surprise, Jane shouldered her rifle and looked down its scope, trying to get a closer look at the Fallen troops moving bellow. What looked to her might be a Captain walked into view, and she got a good look at the markings displayed on its armour.

Describing the colour and symbol, Fubar managed to identify them as the house of devils, which did nothing to improve her mood. Instead, she began moving along the edge of the outcropping she was situated upon, aiming for what looked like an old fire escape.

Keeping a careful eye out for potential snipers, Jane made her way down the rather rickety stairs to the ground, before immediately seeking cover in a nearby ruin.

There was a lot of action taking place, Dregs were being herded into line by Vandals, while what looked like scouting parties rushed into the old wall, back the way she had come. Hell, there was enough Fallen moving around that Jane could call them a battalion.

As if to make matters worse, the sound of metal hitting concreate started ringing out, like a steady beat, and Jane watched with growing worry as what looked like a tank on legs came into view.

"Okay," she whispered, seriously worried. "What the **hell** have we gotten ourselves into?"

Peeking out from her hood, Fubar seemed equally unnerved.

"You blew up the Pike on the other side of the wall, they probably heard it and thought it was an attack." The worry in her Ghost's voice was obvious, "Though the size of the response is strange, it's as if they're expecting an assault."

"Or an invasion." Jane muttered. The way the lower ranks seemed jittery spoke volumes to her, these Fallen were expecting an attack. A big one too.

Turning, Jane began to make her way through the ruins of what were once buildings, curving her path to skirt around the edges of the main concentration of Fallen, having to continuously duck behind cover from small patrols of Dregs and floating drones Fubar called Shanks.

Vandals lined the majority of the vantage points she came across, and she made a point of staying inside buildings, where the likelihood of getting spotted was much less likely. Eventually discovering a blown out building that had an intact cellar, which with a bit of effort Jane managed to hide with some stray debris.

The cellar itself was rather small, which was why it had probably been overlooked by the Fallen in the first place. Which was fine, since the building it was under was far enough away from regular patrols to be a relatively safe place to hold up, and as Jane scouted out the nearby buildings, she discovered the remains of a building, the remains of its third story giving her excellent coverage for the nearby area.

As Jane got herself settled, she discussed with Fubar their next move, eventually deciding that their best bet was to wait a few days for the Fallen to calm down, and move on to one of the smaller Cosmodromes, or just steal a Fallen dropship and bail for the Last City.

Naturally the first idea, and there for the most boring, had been made by Fubar. Her Ghost clearly wishing to avoid confrontation, but Jane wasn't so easily unnerved, and she was already running ideas through her head.

As the day finally started to end, Jane sealed herself in her makeshift bunker and prepared to get some sleep. She had a feeling that something was on the horizon, and wanted to be prepared to capitalise on it when it arrived.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

And the infamous driving skills are rediscovered, though honestly I was never great at driving the Sparrows back in Destiny 1 either. I'm looking to show how damage and wear from previous fights can impact the future, since being able to just repair everything on the spot would be rather boring.

The next chapter is shaping up to be both an action piece and heavy on the plot, so it will probably take a bit longer than I would like. But on the upside, I'm writing longer chapters!

And to those who are worried this story is looking to just re-tread the plotlines of Destiny 1, have no fear, I'm looking to expand a bit on the lore that takes place before the first game begins. Jane the Dragon Hunter sounds like an awesome title, and the next chapter should explain just where in the timeline Jane has ended up.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	6. 6-The Saint

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

 _"_ ** _A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well."_ – Frederick Douglass**

* * *

 **Arc I - Chapter 6**

 **The Saint**

Snapping awake, Jane sat up ramrod straight. She scanned her surroundings, taking in the undisturbed basement she had gone to sleep in, yet she kept herself still. Something had awoken her.

Fubar popped up from where he had been laying on a box across from her, concern easily audible in his voice. "Jane? What is it? Are you alright?"

She shushed him. It was only because of the returning quiet that she heard it, the muted sound of gunfire echoing out. Almost on autopilot, her mind ran numbers that she didn't entirely understand, and almost without realising she spoke out.

"Gunfire, eight hundred meters. High calibre assault rifle."

Blinking in surprise, Jane didn't let herself dwell on it, instead rushing to collect her gear. Attaching her armour and cloak in record speed, she clipped on her gun belt, before grabbing her bag, rifle and spear.

Hurrying to the cellar exit, Jane paused in order to let her Ghost get settled on her shoulder before pushing the trap door open, letting in the early morning light. The cracks of gunfire immediately getting louder once they hit open air, the sounds of artillery fire soon followed suit.

Climbing up the side of the ruin they had been sleeping under, Jane immediately tried to determine the direction the fighting was coming from, the sight of smoke rising from the direction of an old spire tower alerting her to the correct direction.

Almost as soon as they began moving, the gunfire increased, and Jane picked up her pace. Ducking under ruins and vaulting abandoned cars, her fast pace allowed her to make good time. The only reason she was willing to move so openly was the obvious distraction drawing the Fallen sentries from their previous posts.

She only stopped when an artillery shell landed on the other side of a building in front of her, which told her she was definitely in the right place. Scanning the surrounding buildings for a suitable perch, Jane spotted what looked to be an old hotel situated to her right. Making her way to it, Fubar poked his head out, "I'm getting sporadic chatter from the Fallen, it sounds like the Guardians."

Kicking in an old wooden door at the base of the hotel, Jane grunted as she drew her hand cannon and hip fired, catching a Vandal as it turned to look at her from where it had been about to move up a set of stairs.

Another two rounds put the four armed alien down for good, and Jane didn't bother to stop, keeping up her momentum and moving forward. Sprinting to the stairs the now dead alien had been about to climb, she kept her gun up as she moved from corner to corner.

"At least we know who these guys were expecting yesterday."

Taking the stairs two at a time, Jane began moving from floor to floor. Clearing each room one at a time as she moved upwards. The last thing she needed was to end up trapped in the top of a building full of hostile aliens.

As she reached what looked to be the tenth floor, the stairs abruptly ended, with open sky greeting them from where the rest of the building seemed to have been almost sheared clean off.

Not stopping to think about what sort of weapon could possibly have the power to do such specific and clean damage, Jane moved from room to room. Killing a total of three Fallen that had been occupying a snipers nest.

Shoving the bodies to the side, Jane dumped her spear and bag on the ground and shouldered her own rifle, before she poked her head out the window to survey the situation.

The first thing she noted was the several broken spider tanks she had first observed the other day, flames consuming them as Fallen bodies were strewn across the open area. More Fallen were taking shelter at the base of the spire, with people she couldn't identify but assumed were Guardians pressing the attack.

Noting the broken doors that lead into the spire, combined with a group of several Guardians being pinned off to one side, Jane realised that a fire team may have already breached the tower. With the Fallen having sealed up the breach, whoever had gotten in would now be trapped on all sides, so Jane immediately set about rectifying that.

First focusing on the pinned group, Jane began to methodically picking off first the Captains, using her high position to rain down precision fire over the top of their cover. As she killed the second Captain, Jane pulled the trigger to kill a nearby exposed Dreg, only to get an empty click.

Muttering under her breath to watch her ammo counter, she reached down and tapped the bigger box on her belt, cursing as she fumbled in catching the materialised magazine, before she picked it up off the ground and slammed it home.

With the Captains dead she switched her focus to the Vandals that were attempting to coordinate the Dregs, Shanks and some other type of glowing purple drones. After a few moments a shot struck against the wall next to her window, and Jane ducked away as another shot followed, before immediately searching for the source of the shot.

The third sniper shot exposed her enemy, situated in a building on the opposite side of the battlefield to her. The Vandal didn't get the chance to fire a fourth time, as Jane fired twice in rapid succession, taking the sniper out before she returned her attention to the Fallen on the ground.

It didn't take them long to realise that they were getting picked off, but without their Captains to coordinate their efforts, the moment the Fallen switched from pinning the Guardians to supressing her, the now free Guardians pushed forward and engaged them in close quarters.

Smirking, Jane turned her attention to the group still attempting to regain entry to the spire, but after a few assisted kills, Fubar's shout of alarm had her rolling to her left, over the corpse of the Vandal she had killed when she had entered and narrowly dodging a shock grenade that went sailing out the window.

Once again drawing her hand cannon, Jane took aim and fired a few covering shots as she moved to find cover, leaving her rifle and bag where they lay. A quick glance from where she had rolled around a broken wall was the only chance she had to count her opponents, four Fallen, before gunfire started breaking up the edges of her cover and forced her back.

Raising her arm to protect her face, she fired blind around the corner, the alien shouts of pain indicating that she had managed to hit at least one of her attackers. The gunfire lessening as they no doubt tried to figure out how best to kill her.

More alien shouts echoing from the stairway made Jane go from concerned to outright worried. Reaching for her belt, she waited for the suppressive fire to lessen slightly before tossing a shock grenade of her own, counting to three before standing up and following.

The shouts of alarm let her know that the Fallen had seen her grenade, which meant they weren't looking at her when she came around the corner and blew the brains out of a Dreg standing stupidly out in the open.

By the time the two Vandals and one remaining Dreg had recovered from her grenade, Jane had reached them.

Immediately shoving her gun in the Dreg's face, Jane didn't even bother looking as she pulled the trigger, instead keeping her eyes on the two other aliens. Twisting around, she barely managed to avoid a hasty spray of gunfire, and pointing her hand cannon at the nearest Vandal. She pulled the trigger… only to realise it was empty.

Eyes widening, she reached for her belt to throw another grenade, hoping to buy enough time to get to cover or reload. Unfortunately, the Vandal she would have shot if she had remembered to reload didn't give her the chance, correcting its aim and punching two holes in her shoulder, even as her chest armour deflected the rest of its gunfire.

Going down in a cry of pain, she dropped her hand cannon in the process. Rolling onto her back, Jane grunted as she tried to use her other hand to reach for her gun, only for a massive alien foot to come down and crush her arm, making her cry out once again.

Looking up, Jane felt tears forming at the edges of her vision from the pain, and she stared helplessly as the barrel of a rifle very similar to her own was levelled at her head.

The last thing she saw before everything went black was a figure appearing in the doorway.

* * *

" _I don't know if the Reapers understand fear, but you killed one of them. They have to respect that."_

 _A man sitting in a chair, a star shining behind him, she had a bad feeling about this…_

 _"Shepard. You're making a habit of costing me more than time and money."_

 _Rage, a familiar feeling…_

" _Harbinger is coming and he won't be alone. Humanity needs a leader who's looking out for them. From now on I'm doing things my way, whether you agree or not!"_

 _Angry eyes stare back, glowing and unnatural…_

" _Don't turn your back on me, Shepard! I made you, I brought you back from the dead!"_

" _Sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you. I'm getting a lot of bullshit on this line."_

* * *

The feeling of being revived was something she still wasn't used to, but she now understood the feeling well enough to know that it probably wasn't a good idea to stay still.

As soon as feeling returned to her limbs, Jane rolled to her right. Grabbing her hand cannon as she went, she reloaded as she came up in a crouch. For once not fumbling the motions, she aimed and fired barely a moment later, causing the figure in purple and white to duck away.

Following the blurry image as best she could, she was aware that her Ghost was calling her name, but she had more important things to worry about. She fired again, putting three shots down range as she attempted to scramble for cover.

"Jane stop! He's friendly!"

The word 'friendly' finally pierced her disorientated mind, and on reflex Jane pulled her gun up to point at the ceiling, unable to stop her trigger finger from pulling one final time and raining brick and mortar down on her own head.

Shaking herself and attempting to rub the grit out of her eyes, Jane coughed as she searched for Fubar, who she found floating in the middle of the room a few moments later.

"Who'ere?" Came her rather intelligent reply.

Floating up in front of her, her Ghost seemed to calm down once it became clear she wasn't about to resume firing.

"He's friendly, a Guardian. He came in just after the Vandal shot you."

With the disorientation finally fading and her Ghost assisting in removing the grit from her eyes, Jane looked back to where she had last seen her supposed savoir. Whoever he was, he at least had the sense of self-preservation to wait until she waved him over before emerging from cover.

 _Whoa…_

Suddenly she didn't feel so bad about mistaking him for a Fallen, because he was massive. Decked out in silver and purple plated armour, he stood a good head taller than her. Several guns were strapped to his back and hips, with a helmet that looked to be split in two, purple light shining through the gap.

"Err," Suddenly feeling rather sheepish, Jane rubbed the back of her neck, "Sorry about that, thought you were someone else."

The big Guardian made what might have been a small chuckle, before walking forward and offering her his hand, which she gladly took.

"Apology accepted, Guardian. Although I must admit, I don't believe we've met before. "

Grunting in what Jane hoped sounded like polite agreement, she checked over her hand as she replied, "I was just passing through. When I heard the gunfire I came running."

"Honourable," the Guardian commented, before moving to stand by the open window she had been using previously to shoot from. "I assume it's you I have to thank, for our sudden sniper support."

Coming to stand next to the titanic man, Jane looked out over the battlefield, seeing that the majority of the battle was done with. The Guardians rather obviously victorious.

"Like I said," Jane replied, "I came running once I heard."

Nodding silently, the Guardian spoke a few moments later, "Well, I would enjoy staying in your company, but the Kell of Devils awaits my presence."

With that said, the man jumped out the window. Startled, Jane rushed over and looked down, just in time to watch the man hit the roof of the building several floors directly below them with a blast of purple energy. Only to appear moments later out the building's bombed out front door, walking towards the base of the spire where the other Guardians seemed to be congregating.

Turning to look at her Ghost, Jane shared her astonishment.

"Can I do that?"

"No."

"I could give it try?"

" _ **No.**_ "

* * *

 **One epic fist fight later**

Looking down at the shattered skull of the Kell of Devils, Jane could only shake her head in amazement. The man responsible for such damage was on her right, regaining his strength, and Jane couldn't help but chuckle.

"For some strange reason, I get the feeling that an old friend of mine would have loved you."

Apparently regaining his strength with the assistance of his Ghost, Saint-14 pushed himself to his feet, the battered and dented armour speaking for itself, the monumental battle that had just taken place leaving the entire room a mess of broken metal and debris.

"I shall endeavour to take that as a compliment."

Smirking, Jane walked up to the dead Fallen leader, before she reached down and ripped the House of Devils flag from the dead alien's armour. Holding it up to the light, she admired the fabric for a moment, before rolling it up and stashing it in her bag.

"I hope you don't mind, I think I'll keep this as a souvenir."

Coming to stand by her side, the other Guardians around them seemed surprised by her casual commentary. The giant man simply shaking his head and sighed, "You're a strange one, aren't you?"

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Happy New Year from England everyone! I hope we get a better go of things next year. (I'm a pessimist, can't you tell?)

Lots of action, and I introduce an apparent legend from the Destiny Lore: Saint-14. Hopefully I don't butcher his character, feel free to let me know otherwise in the comments…

I was originally going to have the entire fight between Saint and the Kell of Devils written out, but it didn't feel right, so I skipped it and showed the brief aftermath. I may include the fight in a recollection by Jane at some point, that souvenir is bound to cause questions.

Next up will be Jane getting to the Last City, at last. So more character introductions ahead.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	7. 7-Decompression

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **Nothing's random. Even if it looks that way, it's just because you don't know the causes."**_ **– Johnny Rich**

* * *

 **Arc II - Chapter 7**

 **Decompression**

The flight to the Last City was thankfully an uneventful one. Saint-14 had been kind enough to offer her a ride on his ship, and despite the weird looks she kept getting from the other Guardians, she had gladly accepted his offer.

The majority of the journey had been passed in silence. This was less to do with awkwardness and more due to the fact that Jane had no wish to distract the man while he was flying. Though the same was not so for their Ghosts, who were more than happy to converse with each other, talking about their respective Guardians and the past ten years.

Once they had finished filling each other in, they had each gone back to their partners and Fubar had then in turn filled her in. The fact that there was ten years' worth of information to catch up on kept her quiet for what turned out to be a relatively short trip, with Jane being called up from the small cargo bay by Saint, as the City was about to apparently come into view.

Ducking her head through the door to the cockpit, Jane walked up to and stood just behind the pilot's chair, staring out of the armour-glass windshields at the clouds that consumed them on all sides.

"Pretty," She commented, admiring the peaceful scenery.

Abruptly, the clouds were left behind, revealing mountainous terrain overshadowed by the enormous sphere of the Traveller. Staring at it, Jane was vaguely aware of Fubar revealing himself from her scarf to watch as well.

Coming over the top of a snow topped mountain range, Jane found herself staring at what was now revealed to be taking shelter underneath the sleeping god. The Last City looked positively tiny compared to the small moon that hovered above it.

 _Even dead gods can dream…_

Blinking at the strange thought, she tried following the thought back, a memory just beyond her grasp, although before she could reach it, Jane was brought back to her senses by the crackle of the ship's radio.

" _Guardian Saint-14, this is Tower Control. Requesting flight clearance codes."_

The aforementioned Guardian leaned forward and flicked a few switches on his console, before leaning back and speaking with the practiced calm of someone who had done the actions hundreds of times before.

"Tower Control, this is Saint-14. My codes have been sent, if you could be so kind as to alert the Speaker to my arrival, I would most appreciate it."

As he spoke, they began to manoeuvre into a dive, coming close to the ground as they approached the walls that separated the outside wilderness from the city within.

" _Saint-14 you are cleared to land in Tower Beta at hanger bay three. The Speaker is aware of your arrival and welcomes you home. Tower Control out."_

Entering in a set of numbers to the flight console, Jane watched as what she assumed was an automated flight computer took control, bringing them in to land at one of the spires that dotted the City Wall.

"Who's the Speaker?" She asked as they started to slow down, an open hanger now easily visible. "Your boss?"

Getting up from his seat, the large Guardian gestured for her to follow as they made their way back to the small cargo bay she had originally been sitting in. The sounds of clamps locking into place rang out as they went, machinery whirring as the ship jittered slightly as it was moved.

"The Speaker is someone I consider to be second father, and he is the one who officially speaks for the Traveller."

Blinking in surprise, Jane watches as Saint ducked under a support beam and stood next to a console built into the side of the wall, "Damn, that probably makes him pretty important around here, huh." She watched as the Guardian pressed a few buttons as he responded to her.

"The Guardian Vanguard helps to advise him, and the City Consensus answers to him."

Before Jane could properly process that statement, the small ramp fixed to the bottom of the cargo bay began opening. Belatedly, she realised it time to get off, and grabbed her stuff, before she hastened after Saint as he moved to walk down and out.

Stepping out onto a metal deck plate a few moments after him, Jane felt her eyes widen as a thunderous applause began, cheers and other shouts that she couldn't hear being drowned out. The hanger bay was practically full, people lining the overhead railings and standing at the far edges of the complex.

For some reason, the applause unsettled her slightly, and Jane found herself pulling up her hood and attempting to slip into the nearby shadows as she observed the man who appeared to be the center of it all.

There were only four people standing directly in front of the Titan Guardian, the rest of the crowd being held back by what looked like simple robotic frames, their skinny appendages obvious as they moved to form a chain around the edge of the bay.

The first to step forward was a man in heavy white robes, his face hidden behind a similarly white mask. Saint and this masked man embraced, although lightly, before the other three that had stood further back all stepped forward.

Blinking in confusion, Jane watched as what looked to be a more sophisticated looking robot than the ones holding back the crowd slapped Saint on the shoulder. Followed by a man who was completely bald, blue and she was pretty sure was glowing, who shook Saint's hand. The only normal one of the four, a black skinned woman with close cropped hair, gave what looked to be a simple nod.

It was only once a few words had been spoken between all of them that Saint gestured behind him, turning to look at where she had been originally standing before she had moved out of the lime light.

But she had already moved away, slipping from shadow to shadow. Using the other ships in the hanger bay as cover, the simple robots and repair crews had obviously paused their repair work due to their arrival, she moved towards the nearest exit she could find. She needed air.

Seeing what looked to be an emergency fire escape, Jane barged the door open and staggered out onto the platform beyond, revealing to be some sort of open crosswalk covered in light vegetation.

"Are you alright?"

Stumbling slightly, she grabbed the stone balcony that protected her from simply falling off the side of the walkway, she had completely forgotten that Fubar was hidden inside her scarf.

Breathing in heavily, she tried to regain control of her wild emotions. Shutting her eyes, she replied with a customary, "I'm fine," Almost entirely on reflex, willing herself to believe it herself. From the worried feelings she felt across their bond, he didn't believe her either.

"I… just needed some fresh air," She elaborated a few moments later, more in control than before but still struggling to keep a lid on it.

After another few minutes of steady breathing and quietly pointless small talk, Jane finally felt her emotions calm themselves, leaving her in control again. Taking one final breath of air, she opened her eyes.

From the stone balcony, the Last City stretched out before them, with the literal shadow of the Traveller covering half the city in enough darkness to see lights twinkling on and off in the affected areas. It was remarkably beautiful, in a way.

"There you are!"

Turning around, Jane found herself looking at the complex looking robot that had been in the hanger bay, the robots scuffed appearance and tattered cloak giving it a war torn appearance. It was only upon closer inspection that she realised that the strange protrusion on its head was in fact a horn.

"I don't know who you are, but you've managed to worry Saint-14. And that makes you interesting."

The inside of its mouth would light up yellow whenever it talked, and Jane found herself speaking before she could think the words through.

"Err… What the hell **are** you?" Squinting to get a better look, she kept running her mouth, "Are you some kind of advanced mech?"

While the humanoid machine seemed to almost splutter at the questions, Fubar chose that moment to inform her of her stupidity. Poking his head out from under her scarf, she felt amusement across their bond.

"His name is Cayde-6, he's what we call an Exo, and despite what he might demonstrate, he is an entirely sentient being."

Staring at the robot err… Exo, Jane groaned in embarrassment as she slapped her palm to her forehead. "Oh god damn it." Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed. "I need a strong drink."

Apparently coming out of whatever stupor she had managed to put him in, Cayde-6 snorted in amusement. Walking up to her and slapping her on her shoulder, much like he had with Saint. "No hard feelings, don't worry." He grinned before waving for her to follow him.

Looking over his shoulder as she stared after him, he called. "Common rookie, I know a bar downtown that serves alcohol you organics seem to enjoy." Spinning around once she began to follow, he continued. "With any luck it'll take Ikora's Hidden a little while to find us."

* * *

After leading her through a convoluted series of elevators and corridors, Jane eventually found herself exiting the bottom of the tower on the inside of the wall, Cayde leading her towards a nearby tram station.

During the time it took them to get from the tower base to a rather packed commercial district, Jane learned that Cayde was in fact the Hunter **Vanguard** , responsible for every Hunter-Class Guardian that served the City.

"I still don't get it," Jane exclaimed as she stepped off the tram, "Why do Guardians limit themselves to singular classes?" With a dramatic flair of her arms, she continued on her rant.

"I mean, it's all just different types of Light manipulation isn't it? So a Titan should be able to use Hunter abilities and vice versa!"

Following after her, Cayde seemed to be enjoying her frustration. Actively poking and prodding her to see what else would set her off. "It comes down to a Guardian's state of mind," He explained to her, "How they think and chose to react. Different Guardians find affinity with different skill sets."

Sighing in frustration as she let him take the lead, allowing him to guide her to this supposed bar of his, though she kept pushing her point.

"But by that very definition, there should be hundreds of different classes, not three. Everyone is unique and has their own way of thinking. Boxing everyone into one of three roles just doesn't seem practical."

Cayde seemed to shrug at her, "Hey, there are different subclasses. I'm what's called a Gunslinger, but there are other Hunters who're better suited as Nightstalkers or Bladedancers."

Turning them down a side alleyway that lead them off the main pathways, he continued. "Besides, if it isn't broken, why try to fix it?" The Exo seemed to know where they were going, but Jane got the distinct impression that they were entering the less reputable parts of the City.

Cutting through several more alleyways, the people that traversed them changed as well, slowly turning from the well-dressed families and businessmen and women to the more down trodden and working class citizens.

They were moving away from the city center, with its metal and stone buildings, and into what looked to be a more residential district, with several local restaurants and stores popping up from smaller buildings made of wood and brick. There were children playing in the streets, kicking a ball around, as mothers watched and chattered from balconies overhead.

Coming out into a small square, what immediately stood out to her was the almost blinding array of colour. Tarpaulins and tents of various colours provided stores with shade from the sun, with plants, vines and flowers growing in whatever spaces they could find. Graffiti was sprayed over a large number of the walls exposed to the world, but the artwork looked to add to the colour, rather than mark ownership.

Finally turning down a small pathway, they came to a stop in front of an old looking building, a wooden sign hanging above the door catching her attention. The carving of a beer glass an obvious indication as to what the place sold.

Barely slowing, Cayde walked in through the rickety wooden front door, a light jingle of a bell sounding out as he did, with Jane following a few steps behind him.

Entering what looked to be a strange mix of an old fashioned American diner combined with a British pub, the room was complete with tables, chairs and what looked to be a real wooden bar at the far end.

Following Cayde up to said bar, she sat down on a stool next to him after he himself took a seat. The Exo exchanging a few light hearted words with the bartender, who seemed to know the Guardian well, before they were each served drinks. Hers a deep amber coloured liquid, while Cayde received a concoction that glowed a faint green.

"So," The Exo began, "What do you think of it?" He gestured back the way they had come, "The last great city left on Earth."

He took a quick drink of whatever it was he had, and Jane did the same, pleasantly surprised to find she liked the taste, even as the alcohol burned pleasantly down her throat.

"Colourful." She replied, "With a good bit of diversity from the little I've seen." Gently swirling the drink in her hand, Jane openly studied the Exo before her. "But you didn't drag me all the way out here to just ask me about the City. I haven't even been here a day yet."

"No," The man agreed, "But anyone who gets Saint-14's stamp of approval is worth taking a closer look at, in my book."

Shaking her head, Jane still couldn't rap her head around it, the massive crowd of people that had been awaiting him had made him look more like a pop star than the warrior she had seen back in the Cosmodrome. Sighing, she took a larger sip of her beverage.

"I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about. The guy seems alright, and is strong in a fight. But the screaming fans seems a little much, doesn't it?"

Cayde just chuckled, before leaning on the bar and elaborating.

"Saint-14 is a local hero. He's been waging a campaign against the Fallen Houses here on Earth, what you saw was him finishing the last significant House with the power to threaten the City proper." Pausing to take a drink, Jane took the opportunity to finish her own. Another appeared as she set her glass down, but the bartender simply waved her away when she attempted to explain she couldn't pay, gesturing to a sign on the wall.

Looking closer at it, Jane realised it said that it proclaimed that all Guardians were paid for, under Cayde-6's tab. Turning to look at the Exo in question, the Hunter just shrugged. "Keeps moral up." Was the simple explanation.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh right, the Fallen." Clearing his throat, which Jane thought was entirely unnecessary, he continued. "After the Battle of Twilights Gap, the City lost a good number of people, Guardians and Citizens both. The people were angry, and it was Saint-14 who suggested what our response should be."

Nodding in understanding, Jane concluded the story herself, "So the people love him because he brought them vengeance."

"And a sense of security," The Hunter added, "People aren't so afraid of the Fallen after Saint began his campaign. The people like having someone to look up to." Taking another drink, the Exo seemed to mutter the next few words, "It's a Titan thing. Hunters are more… subtle, in our achievements."

Raising her glass, Jane drained her glass. She was starting to feel a slight buzz, and she found herself ordering another one. The thought of standing in front of that crowd, it made her hand shake, and sent emotions she could barely understand on the best of days out of her fragile control.

* * *

 **Twelve empty drink glasses later**

Eventually, a bunch of people dressed in dark colours showed up. People Cayde called Hidden Assholes, and tried to get the two of them to leave with them. Something about the Vanguard insisting on their presence immediately.

Cayde had told them that they would return when they felt like it, and Jane had followed his lead, figuring he probably knew best. Which turned out to be an unwise idea when the assholes tried to drag her and Cayde out of the bar. Cayde seemed to just give up, moaning about something to do with reputation.

Jane responded a little more physically, twisting in the grip of the male figure in dark robes who was trying to pull her through the door and head butting him, her forehead colliding with the bridge of his unprotected nose.

While the man went down in a grunt of pain, a new set of hands wrapped themselves around her arms from behind, pulling them behind her back. New orders to calm down sounded out, this time sounding female.

Not having any of it, Jane once again twisted in her aggressor's grip, before using the nearby wall to push off with her feet, forcing the woman holding her hands behind her back to stumble backwards, colliding with a set of tables and chairs.

Fubar momentarily made his concern known, calling for her to be more careful, before sighing and disappearing inside her scarf once again as she lifted a chair over her head and brought it down on top of the woman who had tried to restrain her.

The wood shattered, and the bartender called out his annoyance at the destruction of his property, before two new sets of hands appeared and started grappling with her. Eventually managing to get her into a set of restraints that refused to budge, no matter how hard she strained against them.

Getting dragged outside, Jane lashed out with a foot, throwing several curses at the bastards dragging her towards what she thought might be the direction of the small market she and Cayde had passed earlier on their way to the bar.

She only vaguely noticed that someone had parked a gunship in the little square that had long since closed for the day, and Jane put up a valiant effort of resisting, despite her hands restrained behind her back.

Several new pairs of hands assisted in getting her into the gunship, and Jane repaid them in kind by breaking loose again and breaking one of the bigger bastard's jaw. After that she had been man handled into a dark compartment and left alone, where she eventually passed out from the mixture of alcohol and exhaustion.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Believe it or not, I find that writing chapters with heavy dialog and plot to be more difficult than the actions scenes. But I felt that this chapter needed to be written, to give Jane a bit of time to decompress. Plus drunken Cayde shenanigans are always entertaining.

Honestly, this chapter was meant to be an introduction of the entire Vanguard, but Cayde kinda stole it away from me.

Proper introductions will happen next chapter, along with a bit of exploration of the Tower, and then after that it will be on to the Crucible. I'm looking forward to that, fight scenes are something I can bash out in a day or two.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	8. 8-Recovery

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **The time will come when you will doubt everything you stand for, but you must push forward and never stop. Do not let others speak for you, or you will lose your voice forever."**_ **– S.M. Boyce**

* * *

 **Arc II - Chapter 8**

 **Recovery**

It was the sound of someone banging on metal that awoke her. The head splitting pain in her skull following soon after, turning the rather aggravating knocking into a jackhammer against her forehead.

With a groan of abject misery, Jane blearily opened her eyes. The sight greeting her an odd and unfamiliar scene. Grey walls, a white celling and what looked to be black carpet greeted her vison as she struggled to survey her surroundings.

She spotted Fubar, settled on top of some kind of small metal dresser. Despite the noise, her Ghost didn't so much as twitch, the blue light that usually glowed from his singular eye noticeably absent.

Dragging herself off the small but comfortable bed she had been laying on, she only belatedly realised that she was missing her cloak and armour, but was still at least dressed in her under clothes.

Managing to stagger into what looked to be a cramped corridor, Jane squinted up and down, looking for the source of the banging that had awoken her, eventually spotting a metallic looking door at one end of the corridor.

Staggering towards it, using the wall as support, Jane slapped her palm against what looked to be the door controls and swiped the appearing padlock symbol to the side, the sound of a locking mechanism disengaging blessedly stopping the insistent banging.

Gripping the handle fixed to the door, Jane grunted as she pulled it to her left, allowing the door to slide almost silently into the wall and open a small crack into the outside world.

Peeking through the gap, Jane eyed the man on the other side.

Standing in what looked to be an empty hallway was Saint-14, the massive man still clad in his full armour. Though from what she could see he had forgone any obvious weapons, instead holding a rather big bag over one of his giant shoulders. His other hand was coming down from where he had been obviously using it to make the head splitting noise that had awoken her.

Rubbing her eyes, Jane stared at him for a few moments, before pulling the door the rest of the way open and standing to one side, "Well, you've woken me up. Might as well come in." She gestured with an arm back into the apartment.

The giant man managed to squeeze past her, ducking his head as he made his way into what she assumed was a living room. Taking a moment to try and compose herself, she closed and relocked the door before following him.

Walking through the doorway, she discovered that she had been right, and that it was a small and rather Spartan living room, where the large Titan had made himself at home in a strange looking chair that seemed to conform itself to his large size.

Rubbing her face from the entrance way, Jane was only too aware of how unprofessional she looked, before deciding she just didn't give a damn and following suit, settling down in a surprisingly comfy chair opposite her guest.

"Alright," She sighed, "I'll bite. Whose apartment is this?"

Saint just chuckled, and after setting his bag down beside him, he reached up and removed his helmet while he responded. "It is your own. It's one of the few perks of being a Guardian of the City."

Blinking in surprise, Jane stared at the man's face, before sighing in self-deprecation. "Saint- **14**." She found herself face palming for a second time in an Exo's presence. "Ugh, I'm far too hungover for this crap."

The now exposed Exo's face moved into what she thought was a grin, the motions not quite the same as on a human face. "Yes, so I've heard from Cayde-6." Before reaching down into his bag and pulling out a white plastic bottle. Throwing it her way, he continued. "As I understand it, you had a rather drunken bar fight with Ikora's Hidden. It's already the gossip of the Towers."

Her hand snapped out and caught the bottle on pure reflex, and looking down at it, she saw that it proclaimed to be a Hangover Cure. The bright and cheerful label on the front of the bottle somehow managing to make her headache feel even worse.

Looking back up at the Titan in front of her, the synthetic gestured to the doorway. "Second door on the right, I believe it should lead to the kitchen."

Grunting in thanks, she got up and headed back out into the apartments cramped corridor. Saint's directions proving accurate as she rummaged through several cupboards to find a glass, before filling it with water and washing down two of the tablets from the plastic bottle.

As she swallowed the pills, Saint's voice rang out from the other room.

"Do you mind if I ask _why_ you got into a bar fight within the first ten hours of entering the City?"

Refilling the glass, she downed the water quickly before heading back into the living room, feeling far more human than when she had first woke up. The giant Exo was still in his chair, apparently content to wait for her to return and Jane felt it best to explain herself before any rumours started spreading.

"Those Hidden guys showed up out of nowhere, proclaimed a bunch of stuff I can barely remember, and then tried to drag me off to who knew where." Grunting as she sat back down, she continued to explain. "I disagreed, and when they didn't take no for an answer I retaliated with extreme prejudice. If I had been sober I would have won too."

Her headache finally backing down, Jane groaned in relief and sagged back into her chair. She thanked the man across from her for the medication, only for him to wave off her thanks with a chuckle. "It was no trouble, I was getting a few items for an upcoming mission." Smirking, the man continued. "Plus, the rather amusing conversation between Cayde and Ikora that happened after your fight was its own reward."

It was at this moment Fubar decided to make an appearance, managing to float rather awkwardly into the room before perching himself on the arm of Jane's chair.

"How're you doing little guy?" Jane asked quietly, eyeing the rather obvious damage to his faded white shell as she idly scratched his plates. From across the small room, she noticed Saint sitting up in interest as her Ghost replied. " **I'm** fine," The unspoken eye roll made Jane smirk, "You just need to stop getting into drunken fights and get me a new shell."

She snorted, "Sure buddy, I'll get right on that with my non-existent and empty bank account."

Saint chose that moment to interject with a polite little cough, drawing both herself and her Ghost's attention back to their large guest. "That's the other thing I was hoping to talk to you about," Saint explained, "It is rather common for newly resurrected Guardians to have little to no money with them when they first arrive."

Gesturing to her Ghost, he continued. "Although I must admit a new Ghost Shell is usually not something high on the list, I know of a Guardian who specialises in Ghost modifications." With a small shrug he continued, "I was hoping to take you to her, get you familiarised with the Tower here and some of the other things you will need to know before I leave on my quest."

Grimacing, Jane leaned back in her chair, "Like I said earlier, I don't really have any sort of money."

But Saint just waved off her protests, "It is no issue." He assured her, "I am more than happy to pay for any necessities, and basic gear for new Guardians is free of cost anyway." He leaned back in his chair, "Besides, between most Guardians here, it's more common to barter for that which you want."

Pulling herself to her feet, Jane grimaced as she stretched. Several loud pops and cracks sounding out from her body, "I'm going to have a quick shower," She decided. She felt her nose scrunch up as she caught a whiff of herself, "I smell like a bar. After that, you can introduce me to your friend and show me around this place."

Stating his agreement, Saint once again proved his chivalrous nature by promising to await for her where he was, while she went off in search of a bathroom and a change of clothes.

* * *

In the end she found a small walk-in cubical shower that was connected to her bedroom, and after a brief but pleasant shower, Jane finally started to feel normal again after she stepped out and dried herself.

After a few moments of searching wardrobes that looked to store objects the same way Fubar did, she found a simple matte grey long-sleeved top and a pair of black trousers. At first she had thought that whoever had placed them there had gotten her size wrong, only to realise once she put them on that the clothing somehow morphed to fit her size.

Looking up in a small mirror fixed to the wall, Jane tied her hair back into a rough pony tail, before looking around for her missing stuff, finding it dumped in a previously ignored corner of the room. With a brief moment of deliberation, she left her rifle, spear and armour where they lay, but hauled on her cloak over her shoulders and fixed her gun belt around her waist. Checking that everything was in its proper place, she grabbed her bag and exited the bedroom.

Coming back into the living room, she found Fubar and Saint chatting, apparently discussing some of their more precarious adventures from the Russia/Georgia boarder on their way to the Kazakhstan Cosmodrome.

"-nd then she calls me a back seat driver! As if we hadn't just barely missed crashing into something for the past ten hours!"

"Hey!" she called out, her Ghost jerking up at her shout. "My driving skills are fine, thank you very much. It's not my fault that thing had finicky controls."

Making his way over to her shoulder, her Ghost at least had the decency to look mildly ashamed of himself as he nestled into the hood of her cloak. "You have the driving skills of a ten year old, it's as if you have no fear of death or crashing in a ball of flames." He muttered once he had gotten comfortable.

"Don't make me swat you," She warned him. Before turning back to Saint with an exasperated sigh. "I assume he's spent the past fifteen minutes doing nothing but talk about my bad driving and my apparent disregard for my own personal safety?"

Saint had already put his helmet back onto his head, which limited her ability to read him somewhat, but there was definitely tinges of amusement lased in his voice as he replied. "Of course not, he was regaling me with the times you've proven yourself in combat against the Fallen Scouts."

Rolling her eyes, Jane gestured for him to lead the way. The large Titan leading her out of her apartment, down the hallway beyond and into one of three awaiting elevators lining the end of the wall.

Taking a moment to note which floor they were already on, Jane watched as Saint hit the icon for the hundred and second floor. Raising an eye brow in question, Jane watched as the doors shut and the number above the door started to rapidly increase.

Seeing her look, Saint spoke up. "We'll go meet my friend first. She's a Warlock of some renown, who specialises in modifying and upgrading Ghost Shells." He explained.

"And after that?" Jane asked.

"We shall head up to this Tower's Main Plaza. There will be multiple stores for us to visit, and we can get you everything you will need for the coming days."

She assumed he was talking about this Crucible she had heard about, but she honestly couldn't see it being all that difficult. From Cayde's brief mention of it while they'd travelled into the city, she got the impression it was meant to introduce new Guardians to the whole dying concept in a safer environment.

With a quiet ding, the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened, revealing a number of Guardians in full armour and carrying weapons. Jane tensed on reflex, but Saint seemed unconcerned as the ten armoured individuals piled in, chattering amongst each other as one of them selected the top floor marked ' _Plaza'_.

With a quiet rattle she barely heard over the muttering conversations, the elevator started up again.

It didn't take their new passengers long to strike up a conversation with Saint, one of the bigger ones asking about his fight with Solkis, the Kell from the house of devils. "Did you seriously kill the bastard with a headbutt?" He asked, sounding vaguely incredulous.

Saint just laughed, confirming that he had, in fact, killed the leader of the Fallen House with his forehead, before doing the single last thing she could want, and gestured towards her.

"You can ask Jane here, she was there for the final moments of the fight." The Exo bastard even had the balls to clap her on the back as he said so, drawing the eyes of everyone in the elevator onto her. Making a sigh of annoyance, Jane pushed down the raising panic in her chest and attempted to give a curt answer.

"I got stuck on one of the lower levels, but yeah. By the time I got there Saint was getting strangled to death by the enormous bastard." Giving a glare to the aforementioned Guardian, she continued. "He reached forward, grabbed the thing's head by the ridiculous helmet it had on and caved in the alien's skull with a headbutt."

Reaching into the air, she pretended to grab something before jerking her head forward in the mime of a headbutt, to the delight of her audience. Several questions were called out, but a Warlock towards the back managed to get his heard above the others.

"You're an Exo, Saint-14. How in the Light did you almost get _**strangled**_ to death?"

It was at this moment that the elevator slowed once again, before the doors opened with a quiet ding, singling that they had arrived at their floor. Shuffling out the door, Saint chuckled as several cries of dismay rang out from the occupants of the elevator.

"I'm sorry gentlemen," The Exo called out, "But I'm afraid this is where we must part ways."

Shaking her head in amusement, Jane watched as her guide waved to the Guardians in the elevator, feigning complete ignorance to their calls for an answer.

Once the doors shut, Jane punched him in the arm. Despite the fact that it most certainly hurt her hand a lot more than it did his shoulder, the satisfaction at his slight shift in balance to remain upright remained.

"Now what did I do to earn your ire?" He joked, beginning to lead her down the hallway before them. His question only made Jane roll her eyes, "You may have managed to avoid answering to them," She stated, "But you can't get rid of me as easily as them."

With a mild chuckle of amusement, the Exo accepted defeat with the raising of his arms. "While I may not need oxygen to breath like you or them, there are still important bits and pieces stored in my metal skull." Rapping his knuckles against his helmet for emphasis. "Having my head ripped from my shoulders would surely kill me as swiftly as it would you."

Snorting in mild amusement, Jane stopped alongside Saint at a door marked with the number 201. Apart from a few dents and scratches, it was identical to all the other doors they had passed on the way here.

With a swift set of knocks on the door from Saint, the door shifted aside to reveal a rather normal looking woman with shoulder length blonde hair and pale complexion. She visibly seemed to perk up at the sight of them.

"Saint-14! It's been a while!" After giving the large Titan a rather comical hug, she finally seemed to notice that Jane was standing behind him. "And you brought company, how intriguing!"

Stepping to the side, Saint introduced them to each other, revealing the woman's name to be Lyssa, who was quickly proving to Jane to be a rather quirky and upbeat Warlock.

With introductions out of the way, Lyssa invited them both inside.

Stepping into the Warlock's apartment, Jane was quick to note the structure seemed identical to her own, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of the grey walls and black carpet she had back in her own corridor, Lyssa obviously preferred brighter colours.

The cramped corridor walls had been painted a bright shade of orange, with the carpet replaced with what looked to be real wood panelling. Pictures hung on the walls, depicting what looked to be photos featuring several Guardians and locations across Earth.

Entering the living room, Jane was once again bombarded with colour, with two of the walls painted a strong red, which contrasted with the rest of the walls, which were a remarkably plain white. The carpet was black, but something had been sprinkled into it to make it glitter slightly like a night sky.

The furniture was rather mixed as well, with more attention rather obviously payed to comfort and size than any particular style or colour.

Taking a seat, Jane watched as Lyssa chattered on about some piece of Fallen tech she was looking into, and practically squealed when Saint reached into his bag and pulled out a large piece of glowing purple tech that Jane vaguely recognised.

"A Prime Servitor processing core! How did you manage to get one intact?" The bubbly woman practically bounced on her heels as she examined it, nearly dropping the piece of tech in the process. "Who knows what sort of upgrades I'll be able to make after I study this!"

It was here that Saint interjected, "Actually Lyssa, I was looking to trade you that for something."

The woman perked up from her study, curiosity looking to temporarily override her wish to poke the new piece of technology in her hands. "Really? That's not like you Saint, what do you need?"

It was here that the Titan gestured to where Jane had settled herself, content to be a silent observer until now. "My new friend's Ghost here had a rather close encounter with a Fallen scouting party, and is in need of a new shell, I figured you would be the right person to go to."

Seemingly forgetting about the computer core, the Warlock placed the large piece of tech on a steel coffee table, before addressing Jane directly. "Let me see? I might be able to repair the damage."

Jane shook her head, "I doubt it, but you're the expert I guess."

Flicking Fubar from where he was nestled into her hood, Jane watched as her Ghost pulled himself out of her clothing to float unsteadily in front of the Warlock, the woman looking almost startled by the obvious damage to his shell.

"Holy Light, what happened to you, sweetie?" Lyssa asked as she gently grasped Fubar, shifting his shell around to get a better look at the damage. As she did so, the warlock's own Ghost materialised, apparently drawn out by its own curiosity.

"Hand Cannon shot, from a Vandal," Jane explained, "Punched through the shell and scraped whatever you call the black ball in the center."

While Lyssa fussed about with Fubar, Jane found herself intrigued by the Warlock's own Ghost. The little machine had a rather distinctive shell, with short pieces of its shell pointing out above and below it like plated antenna.

"Hang on a sec, I've got just the one." Looking up, Jane watched as Lyssa and her Ghost moved off into another room, apparently in search of a spare Shell. Turning to look at Saint, Jane shook her head as she spoke up.

"Do I want to know how rare that thing is?" she asked, pointing at the piece of tech still sitting on the coffee table. "I do have some stuff I could have traded."

Saint, irritatingly enough, just waved her off again. "I was going to give that to Lyssa anyway, she asked that I try and get one before I headed off to deal with the House of Devils."

A few moments later, and Lyssa returned. Holding a Ghost shell painted a faded blue with yellow markings. Little spike-like protrusions came out the back of the shell, and Jane thought it looked a little more streamlined than Fubar's broken shell.

"Here!" Lyssa stated, holding the shell out. "Try this one out, it's an old Intrusion Shell that we used before I got hold of some Vex tech and modified a newer model."

Sitting up in her chair, Jane watched with interest as Fubar moved up to scan the new shell. The beam of light coming from his eye scanning it over from different angles, before he finally seemed to hum in agreement.

"It's a little banged up, but it's nothing the right materials won't fix."

Expanding his broken shell, Jane watched as the shell literally broke apart, leaving behind the black ball that contained his eye. Which then floated over to Lyssa, before he sent a small stream of light to the new shell, causing it to expand like the old one.

Once it had expanded, Fubar gently floated into the center of the rotating pieces, before closing it around himself. The different triangular pieces of the shell were shifting and adjusting, Fubar looking to be almost stretching in his new shell.

"Well?" Jane asked after Fubar finished rotating himself.

"Not bad," Fubar commented, moving around the room in a slow circle, "And the additional cyberwarfare applications are a definite plus."

Grinning, Jane looked to Saint and nodded in agreement. "Looks like we're good to go."

Turning to Lyssa, Jane smiled as she thanked the Warlock. Who simply responded by telling her to come round any time she needed help, siting that any friend of Saint-14 was a friend of hers.

It was only once they had left and Lyssa had closed her door behind them that Fubar spoke up.

"How can anyone be that… peppy, and still be a Warlock?" Seeming to be genuinely confused by the woman's almost airheaded nature. "I mean, she obviously has a serious understanding of Ghosts and our shells, but she almost dropped that computing core you gave her."

Saint and Jane just chuckled to each other as they walked back towards the elevators, Fubar now happily floating openly over Jane's right shoulder.

"She's a strange one," Saint replied. "But so is Jane. I figured you two would like her."

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Ugh. You know what? Never mind, I'll just get around to introducing the rest of the Vanguard at some other point, I can't see a real reason for Jane needing to meet them all right now anyway.

This chapter blew up from a small segment about getting gear upgrades and introducing the vanguard to something far larger and more time consuming than I ever expected. And I decided to cut it off before it could consume any more of my time.

As for the Ghost shells, from what I can tell, Ghosts can modify them themselves. But I figured since you find so many different variants in game that a few Guardians could specialise in making custom or modified shells based on tech recovered out in the field.

Not entirely happy with this chapter, but I figured I'd just get it done and move on to the crucible in the next chapter. I'm looking forward to writing some interesting combat scenes and expanding a bit on how it would all work in real life.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	9. 9-The Crucible

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **A person's destiny is something you look back at afterwards, not something to be known in advance."**_ **– Haruki Murakami**

* * *

 **Arc II - Chapter 9**

 **The Crucible**

Stepping around the corner of a stone pillar, Jane kept her aim steady as she swept her new pulse rifle from left to right, scanning the surrounding area for hostile movement. She was still getting used to the rifle, the design feeling foreign in her hands.

" _Enemy Comms traffic just went quiet."_ Fubar whispered.

Jane froze mid step, before she swivelled around, immediately scanning her surroundings for possible hostiles. The surrounding area was littered with stone spires, columns and pillars, perfect to use as cover or hide behind. Her instincts were suddenly screaming at her for being far too exposed.

It was at this moment that six people wearing a mix of coloured clothes and armour emerged from behind pillars. Eyes widening, Jane turned and ran back the way she came as fast as she could, barely managing to scramble over a low wall before bullets started impacting the ground around her.

"Shit!"

Diving behind a low piece of cover, Jane grunted as a stray shot clipped her thigh. The pain momentarily managing to distract her, before she refocused herself and pushed the pain aside. Keeping low to the ground, she watched as Fubar momentarily materialised to heal her minor injury, before disappearing again almost as quickly as he had come.

" _Could you refrain from getting shot? I don't like leaving your armour to heal you when you do."_

Grunting as a heavier round broke off a piece of stone above her head, Jane focused on keeping her heartbeat steady and calm. Panicking would defiantly not help right now, and Fubar's comment proved a useful distraction.

"Oh don't you start," Jane groaned.

As the gunfire began to taper off, Jane started to shuffle to the far end of her cover.

"I'm getting enough comments from Shaxx as it is," Coming to the far end of her cover, Jane found herself on a ledge that dropped down rather significantly. Leaning over the edge, she found the drop led down to another area beneath her.

Without another thought, Jane kicked off with her feet, sliding her body over the edge and dropping down in a tight spin, making sure she landed with a roll to keep her momentum and take her under the overhang, out of sight from anyone back above.

From what she had learned, the majority of Vex architecture found on Venus was built this way, a confusing labyrinth of stone cubic structures infused with their strange technology. It was working more to her advantage than her pursuers, Jane had been spending the past half hour utilising the terrain to pick off her opponents one at a time.

Scrambling to her feet, Jane twisted around in search of new cover, finding it in a collection of stone pillars that were bunched together further in.

Ducking behind them, Jane shouldered her pulse rifle and aimed back the way she had come, just in time to catch one of her opponents off guard as he dropped down after her. The moment he hit the ground, she opened fire, putting multiple bursts into his barriers and managing to drop them before he managed to scramble into cover.

The moment he disappeared behind a column of stone, Jane primed and threw a grenade, letting it sail through the air and land just beyond her pursuers cover, his cry of surprise, followed by a muted explosion, was the last thing she heard before she turned and ran.

She didn't wait to see whether she killed him or not, his companions were already jumping down after him. Instead, Jane moved to find higher ground where she could effectively use her sniper rifle.

Trying to take these guys in a game of attrition was pointless, but utilising guerrilla style tactics, Jane was managing to survive.

* * *

From the Crucible Observatory, Saint-14 watched as Jane once again proved to be highly skilled in the art of non-linear combat. He was finding himself becoming more and more impressed as the days went by, and watching Ikora become more irritable as well.

Cayde was the only one other than him who seemed to take any joy out of Jane outsmarting and outdoing the Vanguard's best efforts to get her killed. While Zavala was proving to be his usual stoic self, occupying his time by reading and signing reports, only paying mild attention to the screens displaying the combat footage around them.

"This is the fourth Fireteam we've pitted against her," Ikora muttered, Saint turning to find the Warlock studying the analytics, or 'score board' as everyone else called it. "She doesn't even have her Light manifested yet."

"Which is part of the problem," Lord Shaxx stated from where he was seated, "She's **winning**. If we want her to manifest her Light, and reveal which of the Vanguard she will stand under, that will need to change."

That was the real crux of the issue, Saint knew. The Crucible was designed as a way for Guardians to practice their skills in combat, to test themselves against scenarios for which they may encounter in the field, and for newborn Guardians to die in until they manifested their Light.

The process in which newborn Guardians manifested their Light was an unpleasant one, but which Saint knew to be entirely necessary. The subjected Guardian had to be killed, repeatedly, over and over again, until the stress and pressure of such circumstance triggered something within the newborn Guardian that allowed them to call the Light forth.

"It doesn't help that she has high quality gear to compensate." Ikora stated, glaring at Saint from across the room.

Lifting his hands in surrender, Saint found himself repressing the urge to chuckle. "I assure you, the gear she wears is entirely standard. The Fallen Wire Rifle and her handcannon are things she picked up completely before she came to the City."

"And the Infiltration Shell her Ghost is using?" The Warlock Vanguard questioned, clearly growing aggravated. "That is hardly standard for newborn Guardians to possess!"

Turning to look back at the screens, Saint couldn't help but smile. "Her Ghost's original shell had been damaged rather severely, and required a replacement. I just so happened to know someone with a spare."

"That's a lie and you know it!" Shouted Ikora, "You could have easily acquired a standard Generalist Shell! Instead you brought her to _**the**_ Ghost specialist and got her one of Lyssa's personal shells."

Taking a step back in surprise, Saint felt his own temper begin to rise as he replied. "I think I would like to know how-"

"Enough!"

Jerking in surprise, Saint turned around to look at the one person on the planet who wielded the authority to command everyone currently in the room. Ikora, Zavala, Lord Shaxx and even Cayde-6 giving the man in the doorway their undivided attention. The Speaker, his adopted father, was standing before them.

Walking away from the doorway and coming to stand between him and Ikora, Saint found himself straightening his back and squaring his shoulders, an unconscious yet familiar action to him.

"While my son may not be of the Vanguard, I trust his judgement implicitly. You will treat him with respect, and he in turn will refrain from meddling in your future affairs." The Speaker's words shutting the both of them down.

The tension that had been building in the room slowly beginning to ebb away in the presence of their singular leader. Saint found himself smiling self-deprecatingly, his father had always tried to impress upon him the importance of understanding the views of others.

He had always struggled with keeping things impersonal, finding far more enjoyment in life making emotional connections with others, Guardians or not.

"The issue still stands," Shaxx commented, his massive arms crossed over his chest. "Jane is still winning her fights."

The Crucible Manager brought up an excellent point, one which was driven home when the screens lit up, announcing that Jane had killed yet another Guardian meant to be hunting her.

"Not for much longer," The Speaker replied, "Zavala, if you would be so inclined."

Saint found himself and the rest of those in the room look to where the Titan Vanguard stood. The Awoken Guardian simply nodding his head and pressing something on the tablet he held in one hand.

* * *

Stopping behind some high cover, Jane paused to allow herself a few moments to breathe, unable to hear anything else over the sound of her own heavy breathing. Even as her new helmet did a remarkable job of keeping her visor from getting fogged up, Jane checked her pulse rifles ammo counter on her HUD, seeing she only had two more bursts left before she needed to reload.

Reaching down to her belt, Jane had just materialised a new magazine when a dark figure dropped down from above and behind her. The sudden appearance startled her enough that she jerked her rifle up on pure reflex, allowing Jane the chance to pull the trigger.

The first burst was deflected harmlessly off of the figure's barriers, and her pulse rifle was brushed aside with an almost casual ease that left her second burst to be harmlessly fired into the air.

Ducking, Jane just barely managed to dodge a punch her new opponent threw with their other hand. The fist missing her helmeted head by inches and colliding with the stone behind her, the rock shattering under the blow with a muted flash of blue light.

Eyes widening behind her helmet in horror, Jane tried to back away and gain some distance between them, her eyes scanning up and down her surprise attacker on reflex, taking in everything she could within the few moments of respite she had.

The figure of her attacker was female, the heavy looking black and blue armour doing little to hide the obvious curves on the breast plate, and the piece of cloth located at the woman's waist clearly marking her as a Titan.

Not wanting to find out what would happen if her head was on the receiving end of that punch, Jane continued to backpedal as fast as she could, even as she dropped her useless pulse rifle and reached for the handcannon attached to her waist.

The Titan didn't give her the chance, the armoured woman darting towards her at a startling speed, forcing Jane to dive to her left to avoid yet another Light enhanced punch. The female Titan not slowing down as she turned and followed after her, not letting Jane gain any useful distance.

Coming out of her roll, Jane barely managed to get her feet underneath herself before she was forced to deflect a jab, which was quickly followed with a series of sharp punches that she could barely dodge or deflect away from herself.

Continuously getting pushed backwards, Jane struggled to find an opening to counter, sharp pains accumulating in her shoulders, arms and hands as she continued to deflect the heavy blows coming her way. Her opponent was quickly proving to be some sort of expert in hand to hand combat.

Unable to stand her ground and apply any significant counterattack, it wasn't long before Jane felt hard stone pressing against her back, signalling that she had run out of room to retreat.

Ducking under a punch, Jane once again heard stone break under the force of the woman's fist, and in the momentary pause that followed, Jane lashed out with a jab of her own. Aiming for the Titan's armoured faceplate. Instead, her fist deflected off of the Guardian's barrier, but appeared to startle the woman somewhat, as she flinched back from the failed strike.

Taking advantage of the few seconds she had gained, Jane reached down and ripped her Searcher Mk.37 handcannon from its holster at her waist, before bringing it up in a compressed two handed grip and pointing it at her opponents head.

At such a small distance, aiming wasn't necessary. Pulling the trigger, Jane watched with satisfaction as the first round hit dead center of the Guardian's faceplate, jerking the woman's head back as her second round followed after, aimed at the Titan's exposed neck.

The Titan's barriers saved her, but Jane kept firing as fast as she could pull the revolver's trigger, the woman's barriers breaking after the fourth shot and saving her life, but leaving her entirely exposed.

Unfortunately, before Jane could fire the killing shot, the sound of a shotgun being ratcheted caught her ear, and she was once again forced to dive into a roll in order to avoid a shotgun blast that took a chunk out of the floor behind where she had been standing.

Coming out of her roll, Jane had enough time to identify her new opponent as a male Titan, before the man fired a second time, the shotgun blast booming out with a flash of what looked like lightning.

Jane barely had time to blink before she felt the round hit her in the chest with the force of a sledgehammer, sending her body tumbling backwards into a heap on the ground.

Coughing from the force of the impact, Jane clutched her stomach as she tried to force air back into her lungs, the impact having been largely taken by her armour, but knocking the air out of her and fracturing at least three of her ribs.

She was only vaguely aware of Fubar calling her name over their private comms, the pain in her chest making concentrating on anything else all but impossible.

"Not bad kid, you almost had me for a second there."

Looking up, Jane found herself staring into the barrel of a handcannon, the female Titan standing behind it. The last thing she witnessed was the flash of ignition, before everything went black.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Apologies for the delay, my computer had a spat and had to be reset back to factory settings. Luckily for me, I got a 2TB external hardrive for Christmas, so I had everything on my computer completely backed up.

This chapter is just the opening to several, all of them will be focusing on Jane's time in the Crucible. The next two chapters will be Jane focusing on unlocking and then mastering the powers of a Guardian, (I've finally settled on which Class she'll be!) plus introducing a few new friends along the way.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	10. 10-Manifestation

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" **Here's to the crazy ones. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they push the human race forward. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." – Rob Siltanen**

* * *

 **Arc II - Chapter 10**

 **Manifestation**

Entering the courtyard, Jane scanned the open area on pure reflex, taking in the stone architecture and potted plants that dotted the wide space. Stone pillars supported an overhang that boarded the entire courtyard, with a couple venders set up in the resulting shade.

The area was also filled with a large quantity of people, Jane quickly identifying the ones standing around as groups of Guardians, who were most likely waiting for their turn in one of the Crucible's rooms. While in contrast, those who moved around in less bulky or armoured clothing looked to be the Crucible's staff, likely ensuring the surrounding complex was running smoothly.

Deciding that she wanted to keep her distance, Jane circled around the edge of the courtyard, sticking to the shade, before coming to a stop in a less densely populated area that overlooked the Crucible's main entrance.

Leaning back against the wall behind her, Jane closed her eyes as she allowed her mind to go blank. The chatter and bustle of the courtyard before her slowly draining away, letting Jane tune them out as she cleared and focused her mind.

"Think this will finally be the day?" She muttered under her breath, opening her eyes as Fubar quietly materialised beside her.

"Hopefully, I can't imagine us doing this for much longer." He answered, also keeping his voice low.

Jane simply grunted in agreement. This was her second week of the Crucible, and day ten of fighting Jagi's Host. Apparently having been called in by Commander Zavala himself after she had kept beating the random groups of Guardians the Vanguard had been bringing in. The Host of seven Titans had quickly proven to be far more efficient at killing her than their predecessors.

Seeing as they still had some time to kill before their match, Jane found herself asking about the Crucible, specifically the simulation rooms. She had been using them for all but the first of her fights, which had taken place in a small combat field on the other side of the complex they were in.

"It's mostly recovered and repurposed Vex Tech," Fubar explained to her. "The original Crucible games took place in large combat arenas, but that limited the Crucible to only a few environments at a time. In response, Ikora's predecessor led a Fireteam that managed to recover Vex simulation technology, the Vex originally used it to predict the future."

Blinking in surprise, Jane turned to look at her Ghost. "Wait, what?! Those homicidal machines can predict the _future_?"

"Yep," her Ghost confirmed, "The Vex are a transtemporal hive-mind cybernetic intelligence, according to the few scout reports we have from Venus, the Vex are capable of generating simulations of real-world events with perfect fidelity and predictive ability."

Thinking that through, Jane almost immediately identified a problem. "Doesn't that mean they can predict us then?" She asked. "How do we even have scouts on Venus if they can simulate and predict our strategies?"

"They can't," Fubar assured her, "That's the thing, the Vex seem unable or unwilling to simulate the complex phenomena that is linked to a paracausal power."

"Para-what now?" Jane frowned at the strange word.

"Paracausal," Fubar explained. "I guess in layman's terms, it's a power not bound to the laws of the known universe. A person wielding paracausal power writes the laws for themselves, and writes their own destiny."

"Light." Jane realised, "Your talking about the Traveller and the Light." Looking down at her palm, Jane imagined the glow of white light that she had seen from so many other Guardian's and their protective barriers. "Huh, well that's relieving."

Thinking on that for a few moments, Jane smiled at the irony. "So we stole a bunch of their tech that they used to simulate battle conditions, and we repurposed it for our wargames." Jane smirked, "Impressive. Ikora's predecessor must have had some serious balls. From what I've heard about the Vex, they're not pushovers."

Looking back out as a particularly loud laugh sounded out, both Jane and Fubar quietened down as a large group of Guardians of various colours and classes exited the Crucible. They were laughing and jockeying amongst themselves as they moved towards the exit, completely missing the two of them, hidden in the shade above.

"He did." Looking to her Ghost, Fubar explained. "Ikora's predecessor, I mean. He was rather fascinated with the Vex in general," Fubar seemed to think for a few seconds, before continuing. "But he was later banished after it was found out he was tampering in the _Forbidden Arts_."

Before Jane could ask what the _Forbidden Arts_ even were, a pickup in background noise brought Jane's attention back to the wider world, looking up to see that Jagi's Host had arrived in their usual blunt style.

The group of seven Titans were pushing their way through the crowd that had started to build up towards the middle of the courtyard, making their way towards her and the entrance for the Crucible.

Watching them move past her and elbow their way inside, Jane catalogued what weapons she could see them carrying openly, before waiting a few moments to silently slip in through their wake.

Entering the building, she watched as the seven Titians turned down a hallway and disappeared into a room on the left, the metal doors sliding shut behind them. Following their footsteps, Jane immediately peeled off to the right, walking up to the door opposite the one the Fireteam had gone into and watching as Fubar floated up to the door controls.

A quick scan to confirm their identities and the door slid aside for them, revealing a room continuing a small lounge area, with six circular rings lining the edge of the room, the light escaping from within the white portals.

Walking up to the one on the far left, Jane waited as Fubar provided her with her helmet, which she promptly put on her head.

Once the internal HUD came online and lit up as operational, Jane clasped her hands together and stretched her arms upwards, cracking her neck as she did, before lowering her arms and stepping into the portal in front of her, vanishing in a flash of light.

* * *

From the Crucible Observatory, Cayde-6 watched as the latest wargame was wrapped up, a simulated mission against the Fallen resulting in successful victory for the assaulting Guardian Fireteam.

Standing next to him, Lord Shaxx manipulated the simulation's controls, ending one game and starting another. The man was silent as he did so, and Cayde saw no reason to change that, since he was only here for one match in particular anyway.

"You're early."

The voice startled the Vanguard's Hunter somewhat, causing him to jerk his head around to face the doorway. Quickly spotting Ikora standing just inside, the Exo was quick to shrug his shoulders and effect a casual demeanour.

"Hey, it's not as if I had anything better to do with my time."

With an annoyed sigh, Ikora came to stand next to him. She was looking a little more tired than he remembered her being the last time they spoke. He guessed that she wasn't getting much sleep, but then again, none of them really were.

"Her match started yet?" Ikora asked.

"Nope, though Jagi's Host just showed up, so she can't be that far behind." The Exo replied.

They both stood there for a moment, watching the screens as Guardians fought, died and fought again. The atmosphere in the room getting darker and darker as the silence dragged on.

Finally, Cayde sighed, breaking the oppressive silence. His tone, for once, was sombre.

"When're we gonna tell her?"

"It's only been a week." Ikora rebuffed, "He's been gone longer than that before. We'll give it a bit more time, before we start jumping to any hasty conclusions."

The screens lit up, indicating a new game was about to begin, the figure that materialised in the simulation drawing the attention of all three people in the room.

"It might not have been that long," Cayde stated. "But we both know that he should have checked in over three days ago."

* * *

The moment her feet hit the floor, Jane pulled her pulse rifle from her back and scanned the immediate area. It wouldn't be the first time she was picked off within seconds of spawning in, and once was enough of a learning experience.

Her surroundings were entirely foreign to her, and they were definitely not on Earth. The broken and twisted remains of buildings sprouted from red tinted sand, and as Jane moved to find high ground, she found herself curious enough to ask. "Fubar, where exactly are we?"

Her Ghost replied over their private comms, not about to risk the possibility of getting ambushed while out in the open. _"Mars, by the look of it. Eos Chasma maybe."_

Completing her scan of the area, Jane was quick to spot what looked to be more modern, or maybe just less abandoned, buildings up ahead.

Running through a dozen different strategies in her head, Jane wasn't surprised when Fubar chipped in with his own opinion. Her Ghost had been quick to realise that Jane always valued a second opinion on matters.

" _We could fortify ourselves in the buildings ahead, from what I can see, the designs match that of Cabal military installations. Probably a forward base of operations, it's bound to full of defendable positions."_

"We could," Jane agreed. "But I have something else in mind." Looking to one of the mangled buildings in the distance, Jane smirked as Fubar picked up what she was thinking.

" _I'm not sure if we're allowed over there…"_

"Well, there's only one way to find out." She declared.

* * *

Looking through her Wire Rifle's scope, Jane gently adjusted her position and tweaked her scope's magnification as she waited, her eyes scanning for any interesting details or movement.

It didn't take all that long, Jane quickly spotting two figures darting in and out of cover as they advanced through the Cabal FOB. Smirking, Jane zeroed in on the one holding a massive snipe rifle. Axe-6 was Jagi's long range specialist, so once the Exo stopped to scan his immediate surroundings, Jane was sure to fire twice.

The first arc round broke his barriers, staggering him backwards slightly and putting him off balance. The second shot came a single breath later, Jane adjusting to account for the subtle movement of her target to score a perfect headshot, taking out the Exo Titan.

She didn't have time to celebrate though, the two other figures almost immediately disappearing from sight as they ducked into cover, no doubt already searching for her location.

Axe would be respawning within fifteen seconds, which gave Jane a limited window of opportunity. Already she was sweeping her rifle to the right, a small movement of shadow providing her with the location of her next target.

The moment an armoured head peeked out of cover from behind a wall, Jane fired once. Her shot connected, reflecting off her targets barriers, and they ducked back within cover before she could take a second, killing shot.

Almost immediately, the second figure emerged from cover and sprinted forwards at an incredible pace. Jerking her rifles targeting reticle after them, Jane fired twice again, dropping them before they could take cover.

As she moved to reload, Jane was forced to duck as bullets started impacting against the building above her head.

Crawling to the right, Jane moved to her second spot by a blown out wall, quickly resting the barrel of her rifle on the wall as she searched for her shooter. The muzzle flashes proving to reveal their location, as Jane spotted the shooter on her right.

A quick double tap proved effective, the figure jerking back from Jane's return fire as they collapsed behind the sand dune they had been using as cover.

It didn't matter though, as they had accomplished their goal. Fubar quickly notified her from where he had stationed himself on a higher floor that he was tracking two more figures, both looking to be moving to flank her. Which meant that with three dead, two flanking left and with one still coming at her from the front, there was still one member unaccounted for.

As Jane processed that thought, the motion tracker in the top left of her visor flared up, warning her that there was movement behind her. Considering that she had trapped both staircases that lead up to her floor, it could only mean one thing.

In one smooth movement, Jane ducked to the side and drew her handcannon, her eyes already scanning the room even as the barrel was levelled at the figure rapidly approaching her at a sprint.

Even as Jane's eyes scanned and recognised her opponent, she was moving, sprinting away from the edge of the building and firing as she went, the revolver styled gun in her hand spitting out rounds that forced her opponent to slow to dodge.

"Fubar get back down here now!"

Diving through a hole in the nearest wall, Jane absentmindedly tossed a grenade back through behind her, hopefully further slowing down her pursuer.

" _Why?! What's happening?"_

The wall in front of her exploded as a figure shoulder charged her way through it, Jane skidding to a stop as she swore, ducking into a room on her left as she continued to run.

"Hawk is on me!"

Turning a corner, Jane barely had time to widen her eyes before she was leaning her head backwards and dropping into a slide on her knees. The actions barely managing to save her as a fist sailed past her head, missing by inches and smashing into a wall in a cloud of dust.

With a sharp twist of her hips and shoulders, Jane spun around mid-slide and came up in a defensive stance. Arms held in front of her and hands ready but relaxed, the stance one she was starting to become used to standing in.

Across the room, Hawk pulled her fist from the drywall, the woman looking far too relaxed for Jane's liking.

"Not bad kid, though I almost had you that time."

Trying to subtly scan the room, Jane searched for her missing handcannon as she replied.

"Do you really have to call me kid? I'm pretty sure we're around the same age."

Hawk just laughed, the hand to hand expert of Jagi' Host rolling her shoulders as she moved to stand in her typical fighting stance.

"Guardian years, kid. By our standing you're barely two months old."

Giving up on finding her revolver, Jane focused her attention on her surroundings, looking for something to use to her advantage. The floor they were on looked to be an office block, which was really not the place she wanted to be if she was going to get into a close quarters brawl with Hawk.

Attempting to stall, Jane kept talking. "I've been doing those exercises you showed me, it's been interesting."

Her unofficial teacher, since Saint had gone off world on some sort of mission, visibly perked up at her admission. The woman seemed to enjoy their private sparring sessions as much as Jane did, especially since they had figured out Jane as some sort of hand to hand specialist in her old life.

"No shit? You figured out how to incorporate them into your style yet?"

Spotting what looked to be some piece of long dead tech sitting on a table to her right, Jane let a smirk flash across her face. "Yep."

Spinning in a tight circle, Jane lashed out with a foot, kicking the piece of tech off the table and across the room, forcing Hawk to dodge to the left to avoid getting hit in the head.

Taking advantage of her opponent's momentary distractedness, Jane surged forward in large strides, quickly eating up the distance and moving to strike her opponent before she could recover. The heavy punch she threw connecting solidly with Hawk's helmeted head, her barrier taking the blow but staggering the woman.

Keeping up her momentum, Jane continued to advance, darting in with jabs before sliding back to avoid her opponents retaliatory strikes. Hawk using her light to amplify her strikes and Jane knew from experience that getting hit with one of her glowing punches meant broken bones and internal haemorrhaging.

Ducking under a high kick, Jane felt her instincts scream at her to move, and fainted left before rolling right. Her decision proving correct when a sniper round punched a hole through the wall where she had been standing moments before, Hawk herself barely avoiding getting her own head blown off.

Giving the finger out the window where the round had come from, Jane turned and ran. Axe-6 was back on the field. Which meant that Jane needed to find thicker cover further inside the building if she wanted to avoid losing body parts, via the anti-tank weapon that Exo called a sniper rifle.

"Fubar, where the hell are you?"

Turning a corner, Jane ducked instinctively as another anti-tank round punched its way through the building's walls, the round narrowly avoiding her leg as she kept running.

"Right here!" Fubar exclaimed, flying in through a crack in the ceiling above her.

Ducking into an office, Jane immediately looked up, spotting several pipes and vents that crisscrossed the room.

"Good, because we're testing out our new toy."

Using a nearby table as a platform, Jane effortlessly launched herself off it and up into the air. Her arms reaching out above her head to catch one of the bigger pipes and swing herself up horizontally, she used her feet to grip another vent and keep herself there.

"Now," Jane ordered.

Coming up to float beside her, Fubar activated a piece of tech newly fixed to the back of her armour, a flickering barrier forming around them before they both vanished completely. The Fallen Cloaking technology managing to hide her from sight and sensors just in time to avoid Hawk bursting into the room through a wall.

Holding her breath, Jane watched as Hawk stalked around the room, looking extremely confused as to where she had gone.

Instead of leaving like she hoped, Avian and Question showed up, looking equally confused as Hawk did.

It was at this moment that Jane realised that they must have been setting some sort of trap for her, with Hawk pushing her in Avian and Question's direction for an ambush while Axe took pot shots at her to keep her moving.

Keeping as still as possible, Jane started to sweat as her armour started to struggle to keep cool, her cloaking system taking up a lot of power and preventing heat from escaping to trigger thermal sensors.

Just as the three Titans looked to be heading out, Jane felt her heart stop as the pipe she was holding onto with dear life gave a little. Dust crumbling out and hitting the ground, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room.

Realising that her ruse was failing, Jane let go of the pipes, letting her body drop as her cloak tried to desperately compensate for the sudden moments, revealing her as a blurry outline that had the three Titans shouting as they reached for weapons.

Unfortunately for Jane, instead of giving her comrades the time to shoot her and herself enough time to reach for a grenade, Hawk lit up blue and jumped.

The moment the woman's fists hit the ground, a wave of blue energy pulse outwards. Jane barely had enough time to brace before she felt the wind get knocked out of her, her body twisting painfully mid-air as she was sent flying.

Going through a wall, Jane barely had enough time to realise she was in the open and falling several stories, before everything went a sudden and inescapable black.

* * *

" _My project, my work, my cure. My responsibility. Would have liked to run tests on the seashells."_

 _No…_

" _Harbinger speaks of you. You resist, but you will fail. The cycle must continue."_

 _Please…_

" _Hope sustains organics during periods of difficulty. We...admire the concept."_

 _I'm sorry…_

" _You've always been shortsighted, hasty. Your destruction of the Collector Base proved that."_

 _You're wrong…_

" _I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees… That was a joke."_

 _Forgive me…_

" _You represent chaos, we represent order. It is inevitable. Without our intervention, organics are doomed. We are your salvation."_

 _And I am your destruction…_

* * *

With a groan of immense pain, Jane felt herself regain consciousness.

"Jane? Jane!"

Looking to her left, Jane located the source of the noise as a floating black object.

"You need to get up! They're coming!"

Looking up from where she was somehow curled up on the floor, Jane realised that someone was standing over her. The blinding sun cresting in the sky behind them was blurring their features into little more than a black bulky silhouette, even as Jane's eyesight began to clear.

The sight seemed strangely familiar, with the muted and distant sound of someone screaming in pain bringing a sense of abject terror.

With little warning, images flashed through her mind's eye, the sight of burning homes, bodies lying on the blood stained ground, and figures in strange armour with cross shaped visors standing above her, the bright sun behind them turning their figures into nightmarish visions.

That final image seemed to break something in her head lose, a tidal wave of unadulterated and burning rage washing over her mind.

With the image still burning itself into her head, Jane barely realised her vision becoming a tinted purple.

Completely ignoring the crippling pain in her chest and back, Jane launched herself to her feet with a roar of rage, one hand flying to her belt even as her other reached out and grabbed the startled woman in front of her by the collar of her armour.

With another roar of rage, Jane drew her combat knife and brought it down on the woman's neck. Distant shouting making her jerk her head up and spot more shadowy figures. Annoyingly, both she and her first victim went down in a tangle of limbs, the fatally wounded woman still struggled to grasp at the handle jutting out of her neck.

The images in her head changed, burning corpses morphing into foliage as houses turned into trees of a forest. One memory changing for another, rage and hate turning into a strange sense of peace and calm.

Some sort of wild animal stood before her in a clearing ahead, and as Jane watched, her own body moved on its own accord. Drawing back some sort of wooden stick tied with a length of string, she watched as she released it, another wooden stick-like projectile firing off at an impressive speed. The weapon was glowing a strange and all-consuming purple and black.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

I enjoy hurting Jane far too much. Fight scenes like these are just something I can get lost in, this chapter was meant to be around two and a half thousand words long, instead it ended up a little over four.

Expanded more on who we saw Jane fighting last chapter, and revealed some new tricks she's gotten up her sleeves. New friends and allies, though if people know their Destiny Lore, you probably know how that's gonna end up.

On a final note, some people are guessing which class Jane will be, and I gotta admit, I didn't know until last chapter either! The hints in this chapter should be enough for people to guess, but I'm still interested in what you all think!

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	11. 11-Well Met By Firefight

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."**_ **– Albert Einstein**

* * *

 **Arc II - Chapter 11**

 **Well Met By Firefight**

Cocking her head from one side to the other, Jane squinted as she used a pair of tweezers to slowly pull out a small piece of tech from her _Echo 33_ Pulse Rifle.

With a sigh of relief, she leaned back in her chair as she dropped the small circuit board in a small metal bowl on the side of her worktop. The small piece of circuitry she had just removed from her rifle was responsible for getting the bullets from a magazine to the rifles chamber, and helped to prevent jams by managing how fast the system could work reliably.

Of course, with the new parts she had acquired for the rifle, the pulse rifle could now fire bursts almost as fast as she could pull the trigger, and Jane just needed to replace the circuit board with a new one that allowed her to do so.

With a brief movement of her hand, Jane pushed away the LED lamp she had fixed to the side of her desk. The lamp was currently the only source of light in the room, as Jane found the room's main lighting tended to cast shadows over whatever she was working on.

Putting the tweezers down, Jane looked over to the far right end of her desk, where Fubar had situated himself, his singular eye closed as he slept. Or hibernated, as he apparently called it.

Leaning back in her chair and taking a moment, Jane looked around the small space she had turned into her workshop. The box shaped room was one of four that made up her apartment, which comprised of a serviceable bedroom, a small but compact kitchen, a living room which she mostly used as extra storage space and her workshop, where she kept all her equipment and tools.

Off to her left, she had fixed a small wireframe gun rack to the wall, where Jane kept her Wire Rifle, fixed in an upright position. Below the secured sniper rifle, both her _Searcher Mk.37_ and her _Regulator Mk.56_ Handcannons were held in horizontal grips.

She wasn't usually one for sentimentality, but the Searcher was the Handcannon she had picked up before she had met Saint, and even after she had gotten the Regulator, a far more powerful pistol, she had decided to keep the old one. If for no other reason than just to fill up the currently empty spaces on the gun rack.

Further back towards the far left corner of the room, a small chest and armour stand were kept. Along with Jane's current set of armour, which was held up on a stand that displayed it as if someone was wearing it, the chest kept the old set of makeshift armour she had worn back in Russia.

At the very far back of the room, the flag for the Fallen House of Devils was displayed fully on the far wall. The dark red flag with the white design was lightly splattered with the white/blue blood of Solkis, the Kell of Devils, which Jane hadn't bothered to wash off. It was another memento she had found interesting enough to be worth keeping.

And then piled in the far right corner of the room was her supply of that strange metal she had been found with. The broken and twisted metal was proving excellent at improving the durability of whatever she used it on, including her newest set of armour.

Of course, she only had a limited supply, but thankfully Fubar had seen fit to take as much as he could reasonably carry, which had turned out to be quite a bit.

Blinking, Jane rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands as she tried to refocus. Checking the digital clock fixed to the wall above her desk, it revealed that it was getting close to midnight, and Jane huffed as she turned back to her pulse rifle.

These days she tried to avoid sleep until she absolutely needed it, her Light once again proving useful by reducing the amount of hours she needed to sleep each night, allowing her to forestall the nightmares.

She was getting them more often these days, especially since she had started fighting in the Crucible. Even though she could never remember what the nightmares themselves were about, they still managed to leave her feeling just as exhausted, if not more so, than when she first went to sleep.

Fubar had managed to warn her off foregoing sleep altogether, though that was mainly because according to her Ghost, other Guardians had attempted to do so before her, and the results had left them with some serious mental problems.

Shaking her head, Jane got back to work, picking her tweezers back up and using them to grab the new circuit board for her rifle. She had a Crucible match first thing in morning, her first team based game, and she would need her pulse rifle tested and ready to go.

* * *

 **The Next Day…**

The rapid clanging of footsteps had Jane snapping her pulse rifle up just in time for the Titan to come around the corner, his body posture indicating his surprise at seeing her before she opened fire, putting several fast bursts into him before he could backtrack behind cover.

" _Contact, left flank. Single Titan."_ Fubar stated over her teams short range comms. They had quickly found it to be easier for her Ghost to do the talking, while Jane was busy fighting.

Not giving him the chance to recover, Jane advanced aggressively. Pursuing her prey and continuing to fire as she came around after him, his return fire from his auto rifle making her want to instinctively duck and back away.

Instead, she forced herself to continue forward, ignoring her instincts for once. Instead of getting riddled with holes, the Titan's rounds began reflecting off of her new purple tinged barriers, and leaving her entirely unharmed as she continued to advance.

As she fired off her last burst, the Titan's barriers finally broke, unable to take the continuous rain of fire. Instead of pausing to reload, Jane let go of her rifle with her right hand and reached down to her belt, drawing her handcannon with one smooth motion.

Twisting her torso to minimalize her profile, Jane kept a hold on her pulse rifle via the gun's forward grip, and she used her other hand to bring up her handcannon.

Aiming down her pistol's sights with only one hand, the moment the reticle on her helmets HUD changed from white to red, Jane didn't hesitate to fire twice. The first heavy round breaking the visor of the Titan's helmet, with the second punching through the broken armour-glass and killing him.

" _Titan down."_

Even as the Guardian's body hit the ground, Jane wasn't given the time to relax, with two more Guardians, one another Titan and the other a Warlock, appearing around a set of old machinery, opening fire the moment they saw her.

" _Two more! Titan and Warlock, requesting backup!"_ Fubar called out, sounding alarmed.

Ducking through an open doorway, Jane found herself back outside. The green and white of the open mountain range surrounded the backdrop of the Last City, with the floating sphere of the Traveller hovering above.

Jane's momentary appreciation of the rather impressive scenery was interrupted by gunfire, coming back from inside the building she had just vacated.

"Able-12 and Agis Vallen are engaging." Fubar reported.

Taking a breath, Jane turned away from the door. "Then let's see if we can't find another way in to flank them." Jane replied, Fubar relaying her intentions to her team.

About to set off, Jane grunted as one of her shoulder strike plates didn't move properly and pinched her skin, despite the padded under-armour she wore underneath.

Checking it, Jane realised that the plate was cracked, though she didn't know when it had happened. She guessed it must have happened in one of her earlier engagements and she just hadn't noticed until now.

Without a word needed, Fubar momentarily materialised to fix it. A small beam of blue light streaming out from his eye and seemingly welding the cracked plate back together, leaving behind a thin white mark.

Jane was starting to learn that she was gaining a reputation in the Crucible. Guardians were now seeming to be either avoiding her or actively seeking her out, most likely in the hopes of claiming glory in defeating her. As a result, her armour was becoming increasingly dented, scratched and even burnt in places from her multiple matches.

Fubar could fix most of the damage, since it was usually just cracks in her armour's strike plating or bullet holes that appeared in her new cloak. But he couldn't do much about the details, the paint becoming faded and broken in places from where she kept incurring damage.

Still, it wasn't something a quick trip to one of the City's armours couldn't fix, and Jane was thinking about getting a new pain job anyway, now that she was officially a part of the City's Hunters. And it wasn't like she was short for money, or _Glimmer_ , as the City called it, since Cayde had started giving her a cut of the underground betting that was taking place on her televised matches.

Once Fubar was finished, she began moving around the edge of the building, keeping herself quiet as the roar of gunfire inside grew even louder. From what she could hear, someone with a machine gun had evidently decided to show up.

"Adam has joined them." Fubar supplied, Jane grunting as she remembered seeing the Awoken Titan and his massive machinegun before the start of the match. Turning a corner, Jane had only managed a brief sweep for hostiles before the crack of a sniper rifle rang out, a heavy round hitting her in the chest and instantly breaking her barriers.

Reeling in pain from the feedback the destruction of her barriers caused, it was pure luck that her instinctive movements allowed the second, killing shot, to just barely miss her. Instead, the round zipped under her arm and punched a hole in the grating behind her, further motivating her to backpedal as fast as she could.

With a grunt of pain, Jane managed to get herself back around the corner before the sniper could regain their bead on her. One final round punching through the corner of the wall, missing her entirely, as they apparently tried to predict where she had moved after getting behind cover.

Instead, Jane was forced to divert her attention as her motion scanner detected movement behind her, and she turned around in time to see a male Warlock, who was wearing the most glaring orange plated armour she had ever seen, and a female Hunter in bright blue stumble around the corner. The two Guardians were tripping up over themselves, coming around the corner that led back the way Jane herself had originally come from.

Following after the walking neon sign and his equally glaring partner was another female Hunter, this one wearing more sensible clothing. Fubar helpfully updating Jane's HUD with a friendly marker, identifying her as one of her teammates.

With a flourish Jane was becoming used to seeing in her fellow Hunters, the woman lit up with arc energy. A bright blue staff of lightning formed in her hands as she struck out, moving with incredible speed, the unfortunate enemy Warlock not even seeing her coming.

With a twirl of her staff, the Hunter swept the Warlock off of his feet with one end and then rotated to slam him down to the ground with the other, the Warlock dissolving into nothing a moment later.

The enemy Hunter barely managed to recover her balance before she too suffered a similar fate, getting whacked over the head to break her barriers before getting stabbed in the heart. Her brief screams of pain fading into nothing as her body was consumed in electrical energy.

Inside her helmet, Jane grimaced. She much preferred to kill her enemies quickly, instantly if she could help it. She really didn't like some of the Guardians she had come across in her time at the Crucible, a lot of them seemingly indifferent to the pain and suffering they casually inflicted on others. The rest seemed to treat it like some sort of game.

Before she could dwell on it further, the Arcstrider turned and twirled her staff behind her back, before she let it fizzle out as her voice sounded out through the comms.

"You'll want to keep your wits about you Guardian," She called out as she moved to stand in front of her. "These two were looking to ambush you."

Jane just grunted in annoyance, "Ugh, I've had whole Fireteams trying to kill me." She complained, "I'd be more annoyed about it, but Cayde's been giving me a cut of the betting pools."

Coming to a stop in front of her, the Hunter offered her hand. "Eris Morn, Arcstrider. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Smiling behind her helmet, Jane reciprocated the gesture. "Jane, Nightstalker. The pleasure is mine."

"Oh I know who you are," Eris stated. Her grip strong as they shook hands, "You've been the talk of the Towers ever since you arrived."

Jane blinked in surprise at the admission. "Really?"

"Of course, you arrived on board Saint-14's ship. Not to mention that bar fight you had with Ikora's Hidden barely hours later." The Arcstrider claimed. "You've been the center of gossip about the City in general, especially since you started fighting in the Crucible."

Their moment of calm was nice but short lived, an explosion going off inside drawing them back into the present. Jane looking to where she had tried to turn the corner, the bullet hole punched into the side of it reminding her of the issue at hand.

Apparently spotting the hole as well, Eris moved to stand closer to the wall. "Sniper?"

"Yeah," Jane confirmed. "Hang on a moment, I'll deal with it."

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Jane focused. Reaching into the depths of her memory and bringing one of the few solid memories she had about her previous life to the forefront of her mind.

The sudden flow of rage made her grit her teeth, images of death and destruction flashing through her mind's eye as she struggled to contain the urge to break something. Purple light began to tint her vision, and Jane struggled to breathe normally as she felt the Void encase her hands.

The flashes of her memory continued to progress, moving past what Jane had started calling _The Rage_ and into _The Calm_. The memory progressing into an image of her holding an old fashioned bow and arrow, standing somewhere in a densely wooded area.

Opening her eyes, Jane looked at her hands, finding both of them to be entirely covered in the purple energy of the Void. The energy continuing to accumulate even as Jane began to go through the new, yet strangely familiar motions.

Taking another deep breath, Jane eyed the ground and ran a few ran a few calculations in her head. The angle from the bullet hole gave her a rough idea of where the sniper was, so taking a few steps back, Jane sprinted forwards as fast as she could.

Dropping back into a slide the moment before she left the cover of the building, Jane took full advantage of her armour's knee and leg guards to slide along the rough ground.

The sniper apparently hadn't expected her to appear so low and fast, as his first shot ended up missing entirely, the round whizzed over the top of her head and pinging off of something metallic.

Briefly touching each of her palms together in front of her, Jane extended her left arm forwards, while simultaneously drawing her right hand back towards her ear. The mnemonic causing the Void energy to form into that of a flickering purple and black bow, an arrow of Void energy appearing the moment her right hand touched her ear.

Pulling the arrow back as far as she could, Jane continued her slide as she took aim at the sniper. The Hunter was standing on an elevated platform several roughly fifty meters away. The moron was even standing upright and out of cover, allowing her to watch as he fired a second time, the round being absorbed by her barriers.

Not letting him fire a third time, Jane released her arrow, the void energy practically leaping from her hands and streaking across the distance to her target in the blink of an eye.

With a flash and bang of purple energy, Jane's aim proved true, with the arrow striking the sniping Hunter in the chest. The force of the arrow launching the man back against the wall behind him.

Jane watched as his body crumpled to the ground, before being consumed by the Void. Breathing deeply, she allowed the Void energy still surrounding her to dissipate, the purple tint fading from her vision.

Just as she was about to start moving again, several loud monotone beeps sounded out in a sequence, the chime seemingly coming from everywhere at once.

It was a signal Jane was becoming familiar with, the chime meaning that the match was over. A holographic interface appearing before them, detailing their individual performances and revealing that their team had won.

Coming to stand next to her, Eris pulled back her hood and removed her helmet, revealing a narrow yet pretty face with short dark hair.

"Impressive." She commented. While the woman's words were spoken with a bland tone, the small curve at one side of her mouth told Jane more. "While I cannot stand Cayde, I must admit that for once he wasn't exaggerating when he claimed you were powerful."

In response, Jane removed her own helmet and grinned. Her hair gently blowing in the artificial breeze. She had a feeling this would be the start of a new friendship.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Started back a Uni last week, so as you can imagine things have been a little busy for me. In order to keep things going smoothly on all ends, I'll be looking to update this story every Wednesday.

I've also finally made a rough plan for where I want this story to go. As this story originally starting out as a whim, with very little in the way of forethought, I've had to take some time to reorganise and plan things our.

So there will be _multiple_ stories, each looking to be around 15-20 chapters long. Obviously I've still got some planning to do, but I've got Undying Light mostly planned out now. So the final arc is mainly going to set up where the following story goes on to next.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	12. 12-Ready for War

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."**_ **– Mother Teresa**

* * *

 **Arc II – Chapter 12**

 **Ready For War**

Side stepping a blue tinted jab, Jane deflected and blocked several more rapid punches with her arms, before ducking to her right and going on the offensive. Aiming low as she went for her opponent's kidneys, Jane grunted as a knee shot up and nailed her in the face.

Backing up, Jane used the back of her hand to rub the underside of her nose, revealing a small smear of blood, before grinning and speaking up.

"Nice try," She said, rolling her shoulders. "But that doesn't do nearly as much damage as it used to."

Hawk grunted as Jane moved forward, retaliating with a few purple tinted jabs of her own, the female Titan forced to go on the defensive to avoid getting punched in the face back.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Hawk pouted as she dodged Jane's snap kick and replied in kind. "One of the few things we had going for us was our Light."

They were both out of armour, mainly because Jane was getting hers repaired and repainted, with Hawk agreeing to keep it a fair fight. Which was a truer statement than it had been the week before, with purple tinted barriers now reflecting off of Jane's arms as she blocked a punch blue tinted punch.

"And your reflexes have only gotten better!" Her opponent and friend complained.

Jane just chuckled as they continued to slowly circle each other, testing each other with non-committal attacks. They were both trying to find weaknesses in each other's defences, their matches seeming to be more about talking than fighting these days.

"Yeah well, it's not all sunshine and rainbows." She replied, "I still have to restrain myself every time I want to use the Void in any real offensive capacity. The first part still makes me want to fly into a blind rage."

Hawk winced as she backed up a step, avoiding the spinning kick Jane threw her way. No doubt recalling her own experience with Jane and the use of her Void Light. "Shit, still? Those homicidal rages you get into are damn scary, even for someone who's been around the block like me."

By an unspoken agreement, they both dropped their arms, calling an end to their little sparing match. Turning to look away, Jane instead tried to focus on the beautiful scenery before her, the Last City stretching out under the protective shadow of the Traveller.

They were at the very top of the Alpha Tower, one of six that lined the all-encompassing Wall that lined the surrounding City. The small platform they were standing on was one of Hawk's favourite spots to practice in private, and was quickly becoming Jane's as well.

"I still don't really understand it all that well," Jane revealed to Hawk. "The things that are standing over me all wear full suits of armour, but the helmets they wear have really strange cross shaped visors."

Coming to stand beside her, Hawk gave her a hearty clap on the back. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, there's still a lot we don't know about the Collapse. They were probably just people with weird armour we haven't come across the remains of yet."

But Jane shook her head, "That's not all though," She insisted, feeling her frustration bubbling up to the forefront. "I keep having these… visions, I guess, practically every time I end up dying. I hear voices that feel familiar to me, and images I find myself forgetting but remember feeling terrified of or… or hatred towards!"

By the end she realised she was raising her voice, her hands clenching into fists on reflex. More out of a feeling of frustration than any real anger. Turning to look over her shoulder, Hawk had kept a hold on her shoulder, but Jane saw that her friend had gone wide eyed at her sudden burst of emotions.

" _Every_ time you die?" Hawk asked.

"Pretty much," Jane admitted. "Though I usually don't remember much more than vague feelings and a few broken words."

"That's a lot more than most of us get." Hawk revealed. "Exo's generally remember a good bit more than the rest of us, most of us organics only get a memory or two. Hell, Question doesn't even remember his original name."

"Seriously?" Jane asked incredulously, "I always thought it was just a nickname."

Rolling her shoulders, Jane felt the need to continue talking. "I'm pretty sure at this point I was some sort of military commander, or maybe spec-ops." She continued, "From what I've been able to piece together, I was fighting against something, something pretty big."

"The Darkness, I imagine." Hawk supplied.

"Maybe…"

Before they could speculate more, Fubar floated up over the edge of the Tower to come to rest at her shoulder. Her Ghost having returned from the errand she had sent him on.

"Your armour is ready," He informed her. "Are you sure you don't want me to just collect it as well?" He added sarcastically. "Maybe dry clean it while I'm at it?"

Gently swatting the little shit, Jane smirked as she shook her head. "Quiet you," She mockingly commanded, "We've got a new mission lined up for us, haven't we?"

"From the Vanguard themselves," Fubar informed her, "They've picked up a distress call, they think some colonists may have stumbled upon a Fallen House."

"Sounds exciting," Jane grinned.

"Utterly dangerous and full of unknowns." Fubar countered.

Walking over to the side of the building, Jane leaned down and collected her bag from where it sat next to Hawk's, slinging it over one shoulder as she turned back to said friend.

"I'll see you around Hawk," Jane called with a casual wave, turning away from her friend just in time to miss the worried look that crossed the Titan's face. "I'll give you a call once I get back!"

* * *

 **8 Hours Later…**

From the vantage point high up on an outcropping of rock, the Hunter stationed there had a remarkably clear view of the activity occurring beneath him. One of the few remaining holdouts of the Fallen House of Winter scurried around below.

From what he could just see, there looked to be thousands of Dregs, hundreds of Vandals, Servitors and Captains and an untold number of different Shanks, all moving to evacuate from their little hidey hole as fast as they could.

The House of Winter had been clever, building their base inside a large and rocky ravine. Allowing them to hide their ships below ground whilst also digging into the walls of the cavern to form tunnels, effectively hiding them below the ground and making it incredibly difficult to be spotted from either land or air.

The only reason the City had learned of the base in the first place was because of a stray group of settlers, who had unfortunately stumbled upon the place by complete accident. The short yet terrified cry for help over an open frequency had been the last thing they had managed to do before getting slaughtered, yet the signal had been picked up by the City, and three Hunters had been dispatched to deal with the threat.

Looking down her Wire Rifle's scope, Jane kept track of the movements of a high ranking Captain, the large alien looked to be directing the majority of the smaller aliens below. Ordering most of them into smaller drop ships Fubar had tagged as Tuggs, while the rest were moving what looked to be supplies into a Skiff.

From her vantage point, she could get an excellent picture of what was going on below, and the faint ripple of her stealth-tech surrounding her body was the only thing that revealed her position, and at such distance from her targets it was virtually impossible to be spotted.

"Well this is just great."

Looking up from her scope, Jane raised an eyebrow from inside her helmet, despite knowing he couldn't see any of it. Tevis Larsen, her official mentor, sat further back and away from the cliff edge. The Nightstalker was using her scope's feed to see what was happening below. The man was wearing his signature dark red cloak, with the cloth wrapping around to cover the top part of his chest, and hid the whitewashed armour with red lines that existed underneath.

"What'd you mean?" Jane asked, "It looks like we've found one of the last House of Winter bases here on Earth, let's get down there and finish what Saint started before they can get away."

Over the comms, Jane heard a sigh. Eris appearing beside them moments later, the darkly clad Huntress was wielding one of her two pistols, while she held a telescopic binocular in her other hand.

"There's far too many of them for us to take on by ourselves, even for the three of us." Gesturing down to the hive of alien activity below them, she continued. "From what I've been able to see, they've built a labyrinth of tunnel networks underground, not to mention the drop ships."

Looking back down her scope, Jane ignored her two companions as they began arguing over the number of Guardians they would need to deal with the forces below. Instead running her scope along the equipment attached to the different dropships that hovered inside the large ravine.

Several thick hoses were attached to the underside of a Skiff, which ran from the dropship to a large set of tanks, which in turn had a number of what looked to be computers attached.

With a subtle flick of her chin, Jane muted her outbound comms and spoke quietly. "Fubar, am I looking at what I think I'm looking at?"

"If by looking at you mean those Helium-3 Fuelling Tanks, then yes. They are what you think they are."

Jane grinned, "Good, see if you can't break into whatever this place calls a network, I want those doors leading underground locked and kept that way until I say otherwise."

With a sigh, her Ghost muttered an affirmative. His muttering about having to do all the hard work making Jane's smirk grow even wider, even as she sighted in on the hose connection to the biggest Fuel Tank she could see.

Behind her, her two companions were still arguing with each other.

"-ow a combined Hunter and Titan Fireteam will be the best option!" Tevis exclaimed.

"Oh please, just get Ikora and her Hidden down here. They could have this entire place cleaned out inside of an hour." Eris countered.

"If you two are done bickering," Jane interrupted. "Then perhaps you could get into position?"

"Wait, what?"

Taking a deep breath, Jane zeroed in on her target and pulled the trigger. The brief _wine-crack_ of her Wire Rifle firing being almost immediately drowned out by the colossal _**boom**_ that made the very ground they were standing on shake.

A shockwave of pressure rippled outwards from the ravine in all directions, a massive fireball blooming out from the massive crack in the ground as thick black smoke began to belch out of the ground.

The H3 Fuel Tanks went up in a chain reaction that encompassed the entirety of the ravine complex, smaller balls of flame rising up from the ground as the pressure wave reached their location, serving to blast Tevis clean off his feet and force Eris to crouch down to avoid the same fate.

The moment the blast wave was past them, Jane flicked the safety on her rifle and allowed Fubar to dematerialise it. Drawing her pulse rifle from her back to replace it, she smirked as she turned to look back at her stunned friends.

"There we are," She declared over the comms. "That should level the playing field a bit."

A slight tremor in the ground had her turning back towards the now burning ravine, just in time to watch as the Fallen Skiff pulled itself free from the thick black cloud of smoke that was quickly encompassing the entire ravine.

In utter silence, Jane and her two companions watched as the spacecraft pulled itself free from the spoke, revealing itself to have an engine engulfed in fire. As they watched, the alien craft began listing to the right as fires broke out across its hull, looking to be desperately trying to gain altitude and distance.

It didn't get far, as a second engine blew out, sending the Skiff into a slow spiral as it fell from the sky. With the sound of tearing metal, the dropship crashed into the ground barely five hundred meters away from the ravine it had been attempting to escape from. The massive ship carving a trench into the ground as it ploughed into the dirt, before bursting into flames and exploding, sending shrapnel and burning debris in every direction.

"I've locked all of the doors I can," Fubar stated over the comms, "Though there may be more that weren't linked to the main complex's network." When nobody replied, he continued. "I also took the liberty of shutting off the fire suppression systems."

"Excellent, good work." Jane said. "Hopefully enough of those bastards survived to give us a challenge, once those fires go out we'll head down and finish them off."

* * *

 **The Tower**

Flicking off the digital report, Ikora looked up from where she stood next to her fellow Vanguard. Zavala standing at his customary position at the head of the table, with Cayde-6 lounging back in a seat he had procured from somewhere, while she stood opposite to him.

In front of them was Tevis Larsen, the Nightstalker Cayde had assigned to Jane as a mentor. She had never personally met the Hunter, but her spies had made several notes of both his skills in combat and his apparent mock-hate friendship with Cayde-6.

Clearing her throat, she gained the attention of all three Guardians present in the room. "Your assessment?" She asked the Nightstalker.

"Exactly like I said in the report." Larsen replied. "Fast, tough, focused, highly intelligent and utterly unconventional. She scares the absolute piss out of me."

Looking around the table, Ikora noted that it wasn't just her own eyebrow that was raised. Cayde was chuckling, looking both amused and highly smug at the same time, no doubt he was happy he would be getting such a useful agent.

"She scares you?" Zavala spoke up, "In what way?"

"In what way?" the Nightstalker parroted, sounding incredulous. "I mean she's quite possibly one of the deadliest Guardians I've ever met. By the traveller, she could probably kill everyone in this room without breaking a sweat."

Ikora felt her spine stiffen at such a self-assured proclamation. A quick glance around the table revealed that Cayde had almost tipped back over in his chair, and Zavala had gone absolutely still.

The silence in the room made the Warlock Vanguard look around a second time, this time noticing that apart from the robotic frames, the support staff that were working around the room had gone completely silent.

They were professional enough to keep working, but Ikora had little doubt that they were all now intently listening in on their briefing.

With a quiet sigh, Ikora reached under the table and pressed a small button fixed to the underside of the nearest leg, a thin bubble appearing around the table and encompassing all four of them, including the loudmouth Nightstalker.

"Elaborate." She ordered.

The Nightstalker took a breath and calmed himself. "She might not remember it, but from what I've been able to observe, Jane has been trained in guerrilla combat strategies, advanced hand to hand combat, and expert marksmanship. She uses her surroundings to create force multipliers and quite frankly? That Wire Rifle she uses barely resembles the sniper rifle's the Fallen use any more, not to mention she's been successfully working on a Fallen stealth-tech system."

Cayde waved a hand in dismissal. "Fallen stealth-tech is nowhere near as good as ours. You can still pick them up on motion sensors."

"But they still make you invisible, and are far easier to repair and replicate." Larsen countered. "Never mind the fact that Jane mainly uses it to better hide her sniping positions."

"This still doesn't explain why you consider her to be such a grave threat." Ikora interjected, wanting to get back on track.

"She's not a threat… exactly. Not to us anyway." The Nightstalker seemed to backtrack. "From what I can tell, she's invested in her new responsibilities as a Guardian, but that last mission is an excellent example of what I'm talking about."

Bring up a 3D image on the table in front of them, Ikora looked upon what seemed to be a hive of Fallen activity. She quickly identified them as House of Winter, likely taken by Larsen before they had destroyed the base.

"By my Ghost's count, there were roughly two thousand Dregs and Shanks, over a thousand Vandals and hundreds of Captains and Servitors." The Nightstalker explained, "We also found the remains of several Archons, though only after the fires finished burning out. Not to mention the firepower we found on board that Skiff."

Throughout his explanation, the Nightstalker pointed out bits and pieces of information that revealed just how dug in the Fallen had been, and just how difficult it would have been to assault it conventionally.

"Me and Eris took one look at the number of Fallen and began discussing which Fireteams were best suited to go in and take them out." With a small motion, the holographic depiction changed to that of a giant cloud of black smoke. Off in the distance, Ikora spotted the remains of the Skiff, now little more than a burning wreck. "Jane fired one shot. And I mean _one shot_ , and killed more Fallen in one second than I have in the past week combined!"

"So you're saying she's smart?" Ikora asked.

"No. I'm saying she's highly intelligent, very unpredictable, and utterly ruthless. She's the most dangerous Nightstalker I've ever trained, hands down. Not to mention the Void practically clings to her."

"Clings to her?" Cayde asked, sounding vaguely mystified.

"She practically breathes it," The Nightstalker confirmed. "For most of us Void-users, we offer a part of our Light to the Void, and in return we're gifted some of its power in return. A contract. But for some reason, Jane doesn't do that, she calls the Void forth without needing to make a contract."

Leaning back in her chair, Ikora let the information settle in her mind. According to Cayde, Larsen was one of the best Nightstalkers he had. The fact that said Hunter was telling them Jane was more dangerous than even him, and at such a young age, it was not something to take lightly.

"If you have nothing else to add?" Zavala asked, speaking up. When the Nightstalker shook his head, the Titan Vanguard gestured for him to leave. "Then we thank you for your time."

"Wait outside for me!" Cayde called as his friend turned to leave. "I've got a great gig that I think you'll be interested in!"

Once the Nightstalker was outside the Sound Suppression System, Ikora let out a breath that she didn't realise she had been holding. She could already feel the migraine coming, and she brought up a hand to rub her temple.

"Well," She said. "That was informative."

Zavala nodded in agreement, while Cayde continued to look smug as he lounged back in his chair.

"She's gonna be pissed when we announce the Scout Teams findings on Mercury." The Hunter Vanguard stated, "I say we put her on the list. Best we let her burn off that aggression somewhere that's not here. Unless Ikora would like to see another Bar Incident."

Ikora felt her eye twitch slightly at the reference, but ultimately ignored him as she spoke. "I agree with Cayde. For once."

They both looked to Zavala, who sighed. "She's too young, but fine. I agree."

Reaching out, the Titan Vanguard picked up a data pad and typed something in. Moments later, the holographic image on the table changed, revealing a list of names, with their latest Guardian placed at the top.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

This chapter took a bit longer to write, mainly because I'm struggling with the pacing for this last arc. Here we see Jane revealing to us some of the stresses she's having to deal with, and also displaying her ability to unconventionally blow shit up. Plus the Vanguard realising just how useful Jane could be.

This ended up being a mostly transition chapter, the plot will be moving forward at a faster pace in the next chapter.

And to Guest-Questioner: Shut it, I was only a few hours late :)

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	13. 13-Questions Raised

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little."**_ **\- Criss Jami**

* * *

 **Arc III – Chapter 13**

 **Questions Raised**

With a muffled groan of abject misery, Jane slowly awoke to blurry and unfamiliar surroundings.

She was lying on her stomach, something she almost never did whilst sleeping, and she was still wearing her full set of armour. Attempting to bring her arm up to her face, Jane discovered that it had somehow gotten tangled up in her new black and purple cloak. Making a feeble effort to untangle it, Jane gave up and groaned as her head tried to split itself open.

"There you are!"

The sudden and loud noise made Jane want to throw up. The sound of footsteps approaching her position sounding like gunshots going off inside her skull. Twisting her head in an attempt to face the floor, Jane faintly noted that she wasn't wearing her helmet when her nose scraped against concreate, and after the urge to hurl returned, she figured that that was probably for the best.

"Jeez, no wonder we couldn't find you last night. That new paint job really makes you blend into the shadows."

Blinking her eyes in an attempt to get them to focus, Jane looked up to find someone crouching down over her.

Despite her dodgy vision, Jane managed to identify a feminine figure in blue clothes. The short blonde hair and electric blue eyes helped to identify the figure as Hawk, her friend standing over her with a tired yet faintly amused look on her face.

As her vision continued to improve, Jane also began to notice the dark rings under her friend's eyes and the unkempt look of her hair, indicating that Jane wasn't the only one who'd had a long night fuelled by alcohol.

It took Jane's brain longer than it should have to realise that they were in some sort of dark alleyway, the graffiti on the walls and the overflowing trash bins indicating they weren't in the good part of the City either.

As Jane attempted to twist herself onto her back, memories slowly started to trickle back in. With flashes of Hawk and other members of her Host revealing them in what looked to be a Bar, multiple flashes of herself downing drinks of various colours, and the blurry memory of her punching some guy with a tattoo on his face.

"Ugh, why did you let me drink so much?"

Watching Hawk for her reaction, Jane blinked in surprise as her friend went from faintly amused yet exhausted to incredibly sad. Her highly dehydrated mind struggling to recall much of what happened the other night, before the knowledge slammed into her like a ton of bricks.

 _Shit._

"Shit."

Hawk sighed, "Yeah." Before offering a hand.

Taking it, Jane let her incredibly strong friend haul her to her unsteady feet, the world doing a full three hundred and sixty along the way that made Jane want to hurl the contents from her stomach. Another set of hands reached out and gripped her arm, steadying her before she tipped over from the vertigo.

Looking up, Jane only now realised that someone else was with them, her severely hungover mind taking a minute to identify him as Question, one of Hawk's teammates. She knew him, and he knew her, but they only really talked to each other through Hawk.

"Thanks, Q."

"No problem," The large man shrugged. "Although, I am curious as to how you managed to get here when the bar we were at is two and a half blocks away."

With both Hawk and Q propping her up, Jane managed to find the vestiges of her balance. "I'll let you know when the world stops spinning… and when I remember even half of what I did last night."

Taking a breath, Jane grimaced as reality refused to remain unacknowledged. "He's really gone, isn't he?"

The three of them stood silently for a few moments, before Hawk sighed. "Yeah," She confirmed. "The Vanguard made an announcement earlier this morning, the Speaker's called for a day of mourning."

 _Shit._

"Shit."

"You've said that already." A sarcastic voice broke in.

Looking up, Jane found herself smiling as Fubar appeared, her Ghost materialising from the storage compartment in her armour.

"There you are, I was beginning to wonder where you'd gotten off to." Jane teased, taking the opportunity to distract herself.

Her floating companion made a digital sound that she interpreted as a huff of derision. "Oh please. I've been here all night, who do you think called Hawk to come pick you up?"

Smiling, Jane continued to bicker with her Ghost while Hawk and Question helped her to start walking, the two Titans managing to assist her on walking out of the alley and across the road beyond. The three of them plus Fubar all piling into a waiting transport shuttle.

The small VTOL waited only a few moments before taking off, the shuttle quickly gaining altitude to avoid buildings as Hawk punched in a destination. Jane had little doubt they were flying back to the Tower, and to her apartment, where she could sleep off the rest of her hangover in peace.

The flight in total barely took ten minutes, and before Jane knew it, they were touching down at the base of the Alpha-Tower, and from there it was only a brief walk across a stone courtyard to the main elevators.

By the time they made it to the right floor, Jane had recovered enough to feel confident in standing on her own two feet, coming out of the elevator and into the hallway at a slow but steady walk.

Reaching her door, Jane let Fubar unlock it as she turned back to face her two companions.

"Thanks for dragging me out of that alley." Jane said, rubbing the back of her neck subconsciously.

"Ah, don't sweat it." Hawk waved off, "We were partly responsible anyway. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was challenging you to shots."

With a quiet beep, Fubar unlocked the door, and with one final goodbye, Jane turned around and heaved the door open. The lights for the corridor of her apartment turning on automatically, illuminating the freshly painted white walls and cardboard boxes of stuff she hadn't yet had the time to unpack.

Shutting the door behind her, Jane found herself to be too exhausted to bother putting her armour back in its stand. Instead choosing to shed it off as she moved towards her bedroom, leaving a trail of strike plates and underclothing in her wake.

Hitting her bed with a tired sigh, Jane didn't even bother getting under the covers. Falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Jane was an expert hand-to-hand fighter, and while she had no memories of how such skills were taught to her, she still knew the difference between fighting smart and fighting angry.

Right now, standing in her living room turned workout space, Jane wasn't bothering with anything complicated or smart. No, she was standing in the middle of the room and beating the shit out of her punching bag.

Off to the side, two metal crates were sitting next to her coffee table, with Fubar resting on top of them. Lyssa had come round earlier to drop them off, with the Warlock staying for a short while to chat, before giving her a tight hug and heading off.

The boxes themselves were nothing special to look at, just standard storage crates, but inside they contained several pieces of tech, strange looking artefacts and even several weapons of various builds and calibres.

According to Lyssa, Saint had apparently chosen to update his Will before he had left, and the items in the boxes were the things he had chosen to leave to her. Just the thought of that made her hit the punching bag a little harder.

She still hadn't gone through the second one yet, but just from what she had seen in the first one, it looked as if the majority of it was old pieces of equipment, tech and weapons Saint had come to collect in his time as a Guardian of the City.

The heavy punching bag was taking a serious beating, with Jane not holding back in the slightest as she wailed on the reinforced leather with everything she had, both her fists and her vision tinted in the purple energy of the Void as she let herself go full out.

She was sweating like crazy and her breathing was a mess, yet she didn't let up for even a second. Clad in her workout clothes, a form fitting black tank top and pants, with her hair done up in a messy pony tail, she was determined to keep hitting the bag until she didn't have the energy to stand upright.

Workout music was blaring from the speakers she had managed to fix to her living room walls, rather effectively drowning out the majority of her thoughts, and allowing her to time her strikes to the heavy beats of each song.

She had just switched back from punches to kicks again when she faintly heard someone ringing her doorbell, Jane barely managing to hear the soft chime over the sound of heavy metal.

With a sharp gesture to Fubar, her Ghost shut off the sound system, plunging the apartment into a piercing silence.

Taking a moment to grab a hand towel before heading for the door, she didn't even bother looking to see who it was before she unlocked the door and pulled it aside.

"Finally!" Cayde exclaimed. "I've been standing out here for like, ten minutes now."

"Cayde?" Jane asked, still breathing hard from her workout. "What'd you want?"

The Exo seemed surprised at her state, "Err, are you alright? You look as if you've been in a fist fight with a legion of Cabal."

Something inside of her snapped. "The first person I ever considered a friend since waking up in this godforsaken place, the only one who took the time out of his day to help me adjust, who let me find my place here, just died." Jane pointed a finger at Cayde, "So no, I'm not okay. I'm angry, frustrated and hungover, what of it?"

"Nothing!" Cayde shifted awkwardly, suddenly unable to look her in the eye. "Absolutely nothing!"

Calming down slightly, Jane let her hand drop as she wrangled her emotions back under her control, her hands coiling into fists. She was angry at a great many things, but Cayde wasn't one of them.

Sighing, Jane relaxed her muscles and instead reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, letting out a huff of air as she did so.

"I'm sorry, Cayde." She apologised. "Saint was my first real friend and mentor. I didn't know him all that long, but he was a good friend to me, and I'm pissed that I can't do anything about it."

Cayde seemed to almost sag in response, the Vanguard Hunter sighing as well, before he reached up to scratch the underside of his chin.

"Yeah… Though if it's any consolation, the Scouts reported that it looked like he went down swinging."

Jane felt herself stiffen slightly, and she struggled to keep her eyes from narrowing in suspicion.

She'd spent enough time around both Cayde and Tevis, usually inside of a bar or some underground casino, to know when the Exo in front of her was lying. The fact that he had reached up to scratch his chin was one of his more obvious tells.

Cayde had just lied to her.

But before she could think to question him on it, the Exo rather bluntly shifted topics.

"Besides, how are you hungover? It's four in the afternoon!"

Jane felt her blood pressure spike slightly. "In case you haven't herd, I spent most of yesterday afternoon getting black out drunk with the majority of Jagi's Host. I then got lost in the City streets and passed out in some dark alleyway. I only got back around four hours ago."

Wanting to test her suspicions without making it obvious, Jane followed her gut and added. "Someone I cared about just died Cayde, what'd you expect?"

Again that guilty look appeared, "Alright, fair point." Cayde acceded.

Realising that whatever was making Cayde feel guilty was something to do with Saint, Jane attempted to apply some pressure.

"I can't imagine how the Speaker feels. I didn't know Saint long, but from what I've been able to learn, the two of them had something of a father-son thing going on."

Again Cayde seemed to almost squirm, the Exo cleared his throat.

"Yeah, he was pretty quiet when our scouts returned from Mercury."

 _Mercury huh?_

Jane didn't think the Hunter noticed his little slip up, and Jane wasn't about to call him out on it. But before Jane could ask any more questions, Cayde visibly straightening himself out and adopted a more professional posture. "Anyway, there's a reason why I'm here."

And like that her chances were gone. Cayde having slipped into his 'serious persona' to avoid any more of her questions.

"Really? And here I thought you were here for the company." Jane found herself stating sarcastically. Leaning back against her doorway and crossing her arms under her chest, Jane waited to see what Cayde had in store for her.

The Exo seemed to ignore her sarcasm, instead he began to gesture with his hands in a rather animated fashion. "The Vanguard is calling a briefing for this **big** operation. Lots of Hosts and Fireteams are getting called in, plus a bunch of our lone wolves." Quietening down to a whisper, Cayde continued. "It's all very hush hush stuff, but I'd like to bring you in on it."

Taking a moment to think it through, Jane found herself suspicious of the timing. But ultimately she found no reason not to accept the invitation that wouldn't reflect badly on her. "Alright, fine. I'll be there. When and where?"

"Excellent!" Cayde exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Alpha-Tower, the main briefing room."

Jane grunted. "And the time?" She asked.

"Five o'clock sharp." Taking another glance at her, Cayde gestured back into her apartment. "You might want to take a quick shower before you head up."

Jane glared at him.

"And I've got some… other… stuff, to do."

Backing away, Cayde brought his hands up in surrender before turning around and striding away at a remarkably fast pace.

Watching him go, Jane let her mind race.

Cayde had lied to her about the circumstances of Saint's death. And now that she thought about it, the Vanguard had been rather cagey with the details of Saint's mission in general, Jane hadn't even known there _was_ a Scout Report.

After a few moments of silence, Fubar appeared at her shoulder, her Ghost practically radiating curiosity across their bond.

"Was that Cayde?" He asked.

"Yep."

"What did he want?"

"We've got ourselves a new mission. No details yet, but there's a briefing in an hour."

They were both quiet for a few more moments.

"He was rather skittish whenever I brought up any mention of Saint."

"Oh?"

Jane hummed a confirmation as she turned around and headed back inside, sliding the door shut behind her and making her way back towards the living room.

It didn't take her long to fill Fubar in on what Cayde had said, along with her own suspicions.

"That is rather odd of him."

Jane remained quiet, contemplating.

"Fubar?"

"Yeah?"

"Cayde mentioned a Field Report. Those scouts that went to Mercury found something, and I want to know what."

There was a slight pause, which didn't go unnoticed.

"There a problem?"

"Err, yeah. Those kind of documents are classified by the Vanguard, usually on a need to know basis only. They don't just hand out top secret information to anyone who asks, no matter how scary their glare is."

Said glare made an appearance, but unfortunately Fubar had started developing an immunity to it recently.

"You know what I'm thinking."

Her Ghost sighed, "You want to do something stupidly reckless. Get into trouble, and then force me to get you out of it."

"Fubar."

"Yes?"

"I want that Field Report."

…

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Wow, this chapter took waaaay longer to write than it should have. I'm incredibly sorry about the delay. The amount of changes in both plot, scenes and dialog was ridiculous. Not to mention RL is getting rather stressful for me right now.

On a completely unrelated note, I just recently got a hold of a new copy of Destiny 1 for the Xbox One. (Legacy didn't have rise of iron) And for some reason, once I imported my characters over, I cant access the Tower, the loading screen just goes black and I cant access my inventory. If anyone knows how to solve this, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.

The next chapter will hopefully come out on time next week. But quite frankly I have no idea anymore. We'll see how things go…

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	14. 14-A New War

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **The only way of discovering the limits of what's possible, is to venture past them into the realm of the impossible."**_ **– Arthur C. Clarke**

* * *

 **Arc III – Chapter 14**

 **A New War**

Freshly showered and feeling far better for it, Jane felt herself relax as she pulled on her weapons harness, the two leather belts ran around in two loops, around her waist and the other across her chest.

The loop around her waist primarily held her ammunition and the holster for her handcannon, while the one that ran across her chest and over her shoulder held both her grenade fabricator and her assortment of knives.

Next came her cloak, which she pulled on over her shoulders. Using hidden buckles fixed to her under-armour, she attached the main piece of cloth to her shoulders, before bringing one side around and wrapping it across her chest, letting the small magnets sown into the fabric magnetise against each other and hold it in place.

Rolling her shoulders to make sure everything was firmly attached, Jane turned and looked in the mirror.

Cayde hadn't been clear on what she was expected to wear to the meeting, so in the end she had decided to go with her full armour and cloak, sans helmet.

She wasn't bothering to bring either of her rifles with her, but out of a habit she was rapidly getting into, she was rarely leaving her apartment without a handcannon at her waist.

Content she had everything she needed, Jane exited her bedroom and crossed over into her living-turned-exercise room, finding Fubar where she had left him. Her Ghost having entered a trance-like state after she had asked him to access the Vanguard Archives.

Checking the time, Jane grimaced. "Any luck?"

With a muted flash of light, Fubar seemed to become aware of himself, and Jane watching as he floated off of the table, her Ghost seeming to shake himself.

"Yes and no." He reported, sounding rather irritated. "I can access the Archives remotely, but there are several Ghosts and their corresponding programs monitoring the network, with security getting tighter the more classified the files. If I access too much at once, I'll draw their attention, so any sort of dedicated rummage through Vanguard secrets is going to take time."

Jane grunted in understanding. Time was something she didn't expect to have, if the briefing she was about to attend was any indication.

"Any workarounds?"

Her Ghost shook himself in the negative. "I've left behind a program of my own, it will continue to access reports, but it will take significantly longer to find anything on its own, the encryption on Vanguard Files is difficult enough for me to crack, a program will take twice as long."

Jane sighed in resignation, "Well, we've got a meeting to attend. Let's go see what the Vanguard's got in store for us this time."

Whizzing over to her shoulder, Fubar wasted little time in getting himself comfortable, and Jane couldn't help but smirk in amusement as she left her apartment, heading down the hallway to the elevators.

"What is it with you and my shoulder anyway?" She asked as she punched the call button for the nearest elevator.

Her Ghost just grumbled. "It's warm and cosy in here."

Jane didn't bother to mention that Ghosts couldn't feel the cold, and as the elevator opened to reveal a number of loud Guardians already inside, all possibilities of further questioning was abandoned.

Without saying a word, Jane got in.

Upon seeing that the Plaza was already selected, Jane picked a corner and pulled her hood up over her head. Signalling her desire to be left alone. The rest of the Guardians around her choosing to be polite and to do so, ignoring her presence entirely as the doors slid shut again.

As the elevator began to move upwards, Jane once again ran her conversation with Cayde, paying closer attention to his movements and posture shifts.

The Exo had proved extremely uncomfortable at any mention of Saint, and while Cayde didn't always scratch his chin while lying, he did it often enough for Jane to have picked up on it.

For a machine with total body control, it always struck Jane as odd that Cayde had such human quirks. Which, she supposed, just proved that such human habits transcended the physical human form.

A few moments later, and the elevator dinged as the doors reopened, revealing daylight. The sudden contrast in light made Jane raise an arm to protect her vision, while the group of Guardians in the elevator with her shuffled out to join the awaiting crowds.

Being one of the last out, Jane was forced to sidestep as a Fireteam of Titans pushed to get in, likely looking to escape what sounded to be a busy day at the Plaza.

Immediately turning right, Jane headed for some metal stairs that she knew lead up onto a large gantry of sorts. The extra height allowing Jane the ability to oversee the majority of the Main Plaza.

It was looking to be a busy day, with Guardians of all classes moving about with the look of either casual whimsy or intent purpose.

Looking at the vendors clustered in the center of the Plaza, Jane watched as Guardians haggled over prices for everything from armour and weapons to hand-woven tapestries and scavenged Golden Age tech.

Looking up, Jane watched as the City's transport ships roared overhead, most likely moving essential cargo, while the more personalised fighter craft of Guardians passed by on their way to whatever destination they had in mind.

Satisfied with what she saw, Jane made a specific gesture of her wrist, and completely vanished from sight as her tactical cloak engaged. The action being taken more out of a wish to avoid the vendors than any real paranoia on her part. She had been taking the opportunity the last couple of weeks to practice her skills in stealth and observation, mostly by traversing the Tower and City streets while hidden from sight.

Hopping the railing, Jane slipped over the edge and fell the few feet to the floor below, barely making a sound as she landed.

Keeping to the outskirts, Jane carefully walked around the back of a kiosk and joined the crowd of Guardians making their way down a set of stairs that lead to the Tower's command and control centre.

Entering a wide but short hallway covered in the banners for the Crucible, Jane spotted Lord Shaxx and a number of his customised Frames, the Master of the Crucible talking to several Guardians while others bought, sold and bargained with the Frames that lined the walls.

Ignoring them entirely, Jane was forced to drop her tactical cloak as she made her way into the crowd proper, the extremely close proximity meaning that the slight light distortion her cloak still created was more than visible enough to trigger violent tendencies in her fellow Guardians.

Reaching the other end of the hallway, Jane found herself face to face with two armed Combat Frames, the automated machines stood guard in front of a simmering wall of opaque light that blocked further passage.

Since the statistical likelihood of enemy forces getting this far into the Tower undetected was all but impossible, Jane figured that the Frames and the glowing barrier field were more likely there to discourage curious Warlocks.

With a brief flash of their credentials from Fubar, both Frames momentarily stood aside, the barrier field dropping briefly enough for them to pass through, before it blinked back into place behind them.

Taking a look around the newly revealed command centre, Jane was quick to note that Guardians of all classes were in attendance.

In the middle of the large room the floor was sunken into the ground, where a long table had been placed. The sunken platform itself was ringed by several banners, which hung down from the ceiling supports to divide the room into two.

Hidden in alcoves created by the concrete supports, terminals were manned by FOTC personnel, who Jane knew were responsible for directing City Forces and the local air traffic.

Groups of Titans, Hunters and Warlocks of various colours surrounded the large table set in the middle of the room, and Jane noticed that the Vanguard was with them. More Guardians lingered about on their own or in pairs, leaning on the railings that lined the sunken section of the room.

"Jane!"

Looking over in surprise, it didn't take her long to identify Hawk. Her friend waving as she moved towards her, and Jane was quick to note that she was wearing a different set of armour than usual.

"Hawk?"

"Hey," Her friend greeted. "I didn't know you were invited."

Before she could reply, the barrier dropped again, and a pair of Warlocks hurried through, almost knocking Jane over in the process.

Grunting as they brushed by her, the two men barely acknowledging her presence, and Jane belatedly realised that she was blocking the entrance.

"Sorry Hawk, but let's get out of the way first, then we can talk."

Her friend nodded in understanding, and Jane followed her friend as they began to make their way around the edge of the room, avoiding the clusters of Guardians that were congregating in the center of the room.

As they walked, Hawk filled Jane in on the reason for her own presence.

"So yeah, it looks like it's gonna be all hands on deck for this. The Boss has ordered us to get prepped for a long away mission."

Looking over her shoulder at her, Hawk raised an eyebrow.

"You know, you never said how you got pulled into this."

In response, Jane shrugged a shoulder. "Cayde showed up at my apartment and invited me last minute." She explained. "He made it sound like this is going to be something big, so how could I say no?"

Reaching the back of the room, Jane found herself quickly distracted by the large floor-to-ceiling windows that dominated the back of the room, and revealed the massive expanse of land beyond the wall.

Captivated by the sight, Jane found herself stepping forward until she was standing as close to the window as she could get, scanning the forest of trees below that looked tiny from her vantage point, and the mountain range beyond was breath taking to her.

"Pretty awesome, huh?" Hawk said, appearing at her side. "Although if you really want to blow your mind, look down."

She did, and Jane belatedly realised that the floor below her was also made of glass. Revealing that they were on an overhang that let them look all the way down the face of the massive Tower they resided in.

"Woah!"

Jane didn't have a fear of heights, but the sudden vertigo she received from her brain attempting to process the sight her eyes were telling her made her legs want to give out, and it was only thanks to Hawk reaching out and grabbing her shoulder that she managed to regain her balance as quickly as she did.

"Thanks." Jane breathed.

Hawk snorted in amusement, "No problem, I had a similar reaction the first time."

Looking over at her supposed friend, Jane felt her eyes narrow at the grin plastered on Hawk's face. But before she could give voice to her sudden wish to physically harm her friend, the sound of someone clearing their throat grabbed her attention.

"If I could have everyone's attention, please."

Turning to look back towards the center of the room, Jane spotted Zavala at the head of the table, and while Jane merely stepped away from the window and gave her full attention, she observed far more varying reactions from her fellow colleagues.

Minus a few Warlocks who seemed to have gotten into a heated debate about something, and a couple Hunters who clustered around the edges of the room, everyone else in the room straightened slightly. The almost jovial atmosphere that had held the room before was quickly replaced with an air of muted professionalism, and Zavala nodded once the room fell completely quiet.

"Thank you."

With a nod towards his Ghost, the command room's lights were dimmed, and Jane was startled slightly as massive shutters were lowered down over the large windows behind her.

With the room immersed in darkness, unseen holographic projectors came to life, displaying a three dimensional image, the symbol of the Speaker.

"I will get straight to the point." Zavala announced, his voice echoing slightly. "You have all been chosen for this operation, with a few minor exceptions, because you wield the skills, abilities and experience needed for this upcoming operation to succeed."

Around the room, Jane noticed that more than a few Guardians straightened further, the majority of them being Titans.

The hologram changed, switching to what Jane assumed to be a reconnaissance image of some mountainous terrain. In the distance of the photo, Jane spotted what looked to be some sort of wild bird, although she didn't recognise the species.

From her left, Jane heard a sharp intake of breath, and turning to look over, she saw that Hawk was staring at the image with a surprised look on her face. Before Jane could quietly enquire as to her friend's reaction, Zavala spoke up.

"The objective of this operation, is the complete and total elimination of the Ahamkara."

Blinking in surprise, Jane watched as several Guardians shifted their footing. A low murmur of background noise starting up as the holographic image switched to a close up of what to Jane looked to be a winged dragon.

"For the few of you that are unaware," Zavala continued. "The Ahamkara are a race of dragoniod beings that first appeared after the arrival of the Traveller. In the past they have seen fit to bestow upon us some of their power, in return for an unknown price."

Off to the side, Jane watched as Ikora stepped forward, the Warlock Vanguard taking over the presentation.

"This is no longer the case. The Ahamkara have indicated that they are looking to collect upon our debt, and the Speaker has decided that the price is too high for us to pay. The Ahamkara now pose a direct threat to the City, and so they must be destroyed."

The hologram, which had been cycling through several images, shut off. The lights coming back on to reveal a few shocked or uneasy looking Guardians.

"The operation will be divided into three different groups," Cayde announced. The Hunter Vanguard looking uncharacteristically serious. "Each of which will have their own roles and objectives to complete."

"The Majority of the Hosts gathered here will be on the front lines, tasked with engaging the Ahamkara directly and therefor will need to have tight unit cohesion." Cayde nodded his head towards a small group of Guardians, one of which Jane recognised as Jagi, Hawk's boss.

"For those of you who specialise in Hunting and Tracking, you will be responsible for locating the Ahamkara, and then providing localised fire support for the Hosts once they engage."

As Cayde stepped back, Ikora took his place.

"A small group of Warlocks will also be tasked with studying the Ahamkara, your objective will be to learn their secrets and locate any weaknesses that can be exploited."

It was here that Zavala once again took control of the presentation, his commanding voice projecting across the room. "Operation GREAT HUNT will begin at 0900 tomorrow. Your Ghosts are being provided all the relevant intel we have on the Ahamkara as we speak, as well as information on your assigned group."

The Titan Vanguard looked around the room and sighed. "I am aware that more than a few of you have had dealings with the Ahamkara in the past, however, I am now asking you to put that aside."

Several Guardians around the edges of the room seemed to shift uncomfortably, but Zavala continued.

"The Ahamkara are a threat to us, and I am asking you, as Guardians, to uphold your duties to the Speaker and the Traveller, and face this threat as we have done with any other in the past. With an unbreakable drive, and an unshakeable will!"

Several cheers rang out across the room, mostly from the assortment of Titans, although Jane noticed that Hawk maintained her grim façade.

With another nod from Zavala to his Ghost, the shutters covering the windows began to retract.

"Then I thank you, and suggest that you return to your quarters to rest and prepare. For tomorrow shall be the beginning of a new war, one that shall be remembered for ages to come."

Looking over as a hand landed on her shoulder, Jane raised an eyebrow as Hawk gave her a tight smile.

"I better get going." Her friend explained, "I'm sure that Boss has a bunch of orders that need giving out."

Nodding silently, Jane watched as her friend left her to go join her Host.

From where he had been hidden in her cloaked shoulder, Fubar spoke up.

"I'm receiving the data package on the Ahamkara. From what the Vanguard know, these things are definitely no pushovers."

Jane grunted in agreement, before turning and walking towards the exit. While she could understand the Vanguard's reasoning, she hadn't been blinded by their flowery speech. The fact that they were setting out to commit genocide against a race of beings that looked to be intelligent left a very bad taste in her mouth.

Exiting the command centre, they made their way past the Crucible stands and up the stairs. This time not bothering with her tactical cloak, Jane let herself get caught in the flow of people.

Fubar made a confused noise. "I still don't understand why you don't want to tell anyone about our suspicions."

Slipping around a small group of Guardians, Jane broke off from the crowd and made her way back towards the elevators, where a small line was starting to form.

"Because right now they're just that, suspicions. Once we have more solid evidence, or a real answer as to what happened, then we can start telling people and making plans. Until then, there's no sense in getting people's hopes up."

"You mean other than your own."

Jane glared. "When did you start getting so perceptive?"

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Very late again, and I apologise, but real life is kicking my ass right now. I don't know when the next chapter will be finished, but it will likely be another few weeks before I have the time.

I would like to take the time to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited or followed, you guys are awesome! This story has now over 15,000 Views, which is far more than I ever originally expected.

So once again, I thank you all.

* * *

 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


	15. 15-Accidental Discoveries

**~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~**

" _ **Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."**_ **– William Jennings Bryan**

 **00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00**

 **Arc III – Chapter 15**

 **Accidental Discoveries**

" _Hey Jane, its Axe. You read me alright?"_

Exhaling, Jane shifted slightly as she brought her head away from the scope of her Sniper Rifle to unmute her helmet's microphone.

"Loud and clear. Who's complaining about the cold this time?"

There was a brief burst of static, before the fellow sniper replied. _"We're coming up to the next checkpoint,"_ He informed her, _"And Avian has joined in with Hawk and Thessa, I think even Jagi is getting sick of them."_

Jane grinned, "Wusses, all three of them."

Axe replied with a chuckle, "I'll let them know you said that. Though even I've got to admit we've been getting shit luck with this mission, you seeing anything I'm not?"

"Nope." She replied breezily, "Nothing but beautiful scenery up here."

Not that she was complaining about it, unlike a lot of the other hunting teams, Jane considered it _good_ _luck_ that they had yet to locate any Ahamkara, the whole 'kill on sight' business was leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

Although, she had to admit, from where she had perched herself on the very peak of a snow dusted mountain, the view alone was utterly breath taking to see. Even after a week of constant hiking and tracking through the mountainous terrain of Old Pakistan, the constantly stunning views never failed to impress.

The snow topped mountainous terrain stretched on for as far as the eye could see, which when combined with the pure blue sky and the golden rays of the sun, left almost everything in sight beautifully picturesque.

Silently muting her microphone again, Jane sighed as she gazed around at the beautiful scenery. "Kinda takes me back to those mountains you found me on, back in Russia."

Although when Fubar replied it was, unsurprisingly, with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

" _Really? All I remember was heavy blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and those treacherous cliff faces that you liked to jump off."_

"Oh come on-"

" _Not to mention the roaming Fallen and hostile wildlife, all of which tried to hunt us down and kill us."_

"Okay!" Jane interjected, rolling her eyes. "I get it."

They were stopped from arguing further by the sight of movement on an opposing mountain peak, but Jane relaxed her trigger finger when the emerging figure was marked with a green tag by her HUD, identifying the figure as Axe, the exo stopping to give her a quick wave before getting joined by six more figures with similarly coloured armour.

The white and grey paintjobs they were all sporting was doing well to camouflage them with the snow and rocky terrain, even as they ruined it by leaving a blatantly clear trail of footsteps in their wake.

For Jane herself, her outfit was similarly transformed. Her previously black and purple cloak had been replaced with a thicker white coloured one. The heavy fabric splotched with black and grey, whist her armour was a mismatch of white, grey and black that was specifically designed to break up her profile.

It was a basic form of stealth, especially when you took her tactical cloak into consideration, but the thing _still_ had problems with heat regulation, and Jane was taking every advantage she could get.

Pulling away from her rifle, Jane rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, before Fubar let her know that Hawk was pinging her on their private comm.

"Getting bored already?" She commented with a smile as the call connected, "We've only been walking for five hours."

" _Oh come on."_ Hawk wined in reply, _"We've been out here for days tracking these things and we've not seen so much as a single scale."_

Jane just grinned as her friend continued to rant, _"And for your information, we are_ not _wusses! You and the exo's just don't feel the cold like the rest of us normal people."_

Jane chuckled, "What do you mean 'normal people'? Question hasn't complained once, and the view up here is great!"

Hawk just huffed, the sound coming over the comms as a burst of windy static.

" _So, where to next do you think? The warlocks were clearly off their game when they traced the disruption magic to all the way out here. The other hunting parties have been getting all the luck recently."_

Jane grimaced slightly, and while it wouldn't make a difference to anybody listening in on their comms, she still lowered her voice slightly.

"If anything I'm glad." She confided, "I really can't stand this war, and the fact that the so many Guardians are willing to commit genocide on the Vanguard's orders worries me."

On the other mountain peak, Jane watched as one of the figures, Hawk she guessed, shrugged their shoulders. _"Well if it makes you feel any better, the Speaker signed off on it, so I suppose it more about people trusting_ his _judgement than the Vanguard's."_

Sighing, Jane sat up from where she had dug herself into the snow.

"No, it really doesn't." Brushing some snow off her arms, Jane pulled herself to her feet. "Look, I understand that Saint looked up to him as something of a father figure, but something about the Speaker just… I don't know, something about him sets me on edge."

Picking up her rifle and preforming one final sweep of the surrounding area, Jane got moving. Her job as an unofficial scout requiring her to move ahead of the Host and provide them with advanced recon, alongside Axe-6 and his oversized rifle.

The Ahamkara had somehow started jamming guidance systems and long range comms almost the moment they had realised the Vanguard's murderous intent. Jane had overheard some of the Warlocks complaining about it, claiming it was some sort of strange 'disruption magic that shouldn't be feasible'.

In any case, it left them with comms that didn't work beyond line of sight and no choice but to use ground recon for scouting, whilst ships were used for fast fly-by bombing runs only. The only consolation to this, in the Vanguard's eyes, was that the Ahamkara were clearly still in the area, since they were still creating the disruption.

" _Really? You still don't like the Speaker?"_

Jane almost jolted in surprise, she'd forgotten that Hawk was still there.

"I… yeah." She replied, "I mean, seriously? He's the literal definition of an immortal dictator."

" _Oh come on,_ " Hawk countered, _"He's the Speaker! He speaks for the Traveller, he's pretty much lead the City since it was a collection of wooden huts. He might not have held a proper election when he became our leader, but he's hardly a dictator. Nobody disagreed with him when he took power, and nobody has ever challenged him for the title."_

Jane shook her head in disagreement, "He **claims** to speak for the Traveller, but what proof does he really have of that?" Stopping to take stock of her surroundings, Jane felt herself get irritated that her friend couldn't see what she could.

"And since he's got a Ghost he's effectively immortal, he can quite literally outlive any opposition he might face. That he's not an elected leader, that he doesn't hold any re-elections, it just means he's never going to have a serious challenger."

The comm fell silent after that, Hawk seeming to be searching for a way to respond.

Reaching an edge, Jane looked down. The drop lead down onto a relatively flat plain of undisturbed snow and rocky outcroppings. A quick bit of math in her head was all she needed before she pushed off with her back foot, sending her plummeting at a rapid speed. Her sudden drop causing Fubar to yelp in surprise, her Ghost dematerialising back into her armour in order to prevent being left behind.

With the wind rippling through her cloak, Jane felt a rush of adrenalin as she let out a whoop of exhilaration, the ground beginning to rapidly rise up to meet her.

At the last moment, Jane let loose with a burst of concentrated Light to slow her fall, and instead of smashing into the ground with a splat, Jane landed in a fast roll. Defusing most of her remaining momentum as she came bouncing up on her feet.

"Nailed it." She grinned, feeling some of her earlier frustrations receding with the sudden adrenaline high.

Fubar's groan only made her grin wider, and as they moved away from the rocky cliffs, Jane surveyed the nearby landscape, eventually spotting Hawk and the rest of Jagi's Host scaling a cliff that lead directly parallel to the one she was currently on.

" _Okay."_ Hawk finally spoke back up, _"So maybe the Speaker a dictator, but he's a benevolent dictator. He obviously wants only the betterment of the City, and it's not just him that's immortal, every Guardian is!"_

 _And what happened to them,_ Jane silently questioned, _what happened to them when they spoke out against the Speaker and his rule?_

Out loud, Jane grunted noncommittally and continued to look around for anything interesting.

Just as she was about to turn away, there was a thunderous _boom_ that shook the rocky ground beneath her feet, forcing Jane to crouch down and place a hand in the snow in order to maintain her balance.

In the distance, smoke began to drift upwards. Accompanied by the familiar sound of automatic and semiautomatic gunfire.

A marker appeared on her HUD a few moments later as Jagi's voice came in over the command channel.

"That wasn't far. Axe, Jane. Double time it. I want a sit-rep before the rest of us get there."

With a small burst of her Light, Jane began hopping forwards with long strides of her legs, mimicking the sprint of a deer as she bounced from one leg to the other, leaping over from one patch of snow and rock to the next.

"Roger that, en route."

" _On my way."_

Vaulting over a large boulder, Jane slid down an iced over slope, dropping down to a flat plain of undisturbed snow.

A sudden crack had her looking down, and Jane watched with a startled curse as the snow beneath her feet abruptly shifted. Causing her to stumble and fall.

Scrambling up onto her knees, Jane looked around in time to see numerous lines breaking out and crisscrossing the undisturbed snow around her, forming a spider web of cracks around her.

"Oh shit."

Jane had enough time for the memory of how she had first acquired her Wire Rifle to flash before her mind's eye, and then the snow was giving way to gravity, and she was falling along with it.

Falling.

Falling.

And then darkness rushed to claim her.

 **00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00**

" _Attacking the collectors would require passing through the Omega-4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."_

" _So I've been told. They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos, too. The impossible is just something someone hasn't done yet, and doing the impossible is what I'm good at."_

…

" _I mentioned when we met on Illium that I was dying. It's called Kepral's syndrome. It's not communicable, but I have less than a year to live."_

" _Yeah, Chakwas briefed me after you came aboard. I… well. Saying 'sorry' feels contrite."_

" _No. Not when it is meant sincerely."_

" _Never mind. How about instead I ask something more practical? What do you need Thane, how can I help?"_

…

" _Drell philosophies are both similar and different from Human ones. We see our bodies as vessels, puppets to our souls, and we accept that the strings are not always under our control."_

" _Really? That's… an interesting way of perceiving things. But that doesn't explain to me how you don't feel guilt or remorse over the deaths you've caused."_

" _My body carries out the will of my employers. I am their hand, their weapon. For example, if you kill a man with your gun, do you hold the gun responsible?"_

" _That makes sense, I suppose. To be wielded, instead of the wielder. I can appreciate that."_

…

" _Siha. One of the warrior-angels of the goddess Arashu. Fierce in wrath. A tenacious protector. I confess, I've come to… care for you. Perhaps I'm being foolish. We may share an art, but we are two very different beings."_

" _No. I… I care for you too. You… well, you get me. I'm not sure we know each other well enough to call it love. But I feel something for you too. You're more to me than an assassin, more to me than a friend."_

…

" _I love you. If all else whispers back into the tide. Know this for fact."_

" _I'll… see you at the beach, on the other side, Thane."_

…

" _Should have killed me when you had the chance! This is for Thane, you bast-"_

 **00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00**

Sitting bolt upright, Jane gasped for breath as she returned to the land of the living. The darkness that surrounded her only fuelling her panicked state further as her body registered how cold it was.

"Easy, easy! Don't worry, I've got you."

Panting, Jane only calmed down once she recognised Fubar's voice, her Ghost appearing in her vision moments later, the last few wisps of Light fading around him as he finished reviving her.

The beam of light streaming out from his eye served to light up their surroundings somewhat, and Jane found it easier to calm down her beating heart.

"Where are we?" She finally asked, looking around. "What happened?"

From what she could see, they were in some sort of iced over cavern. The walls and floor were made of rock imbedded in ice, with stalactites made of ice dripping water down from the ceiling. Recently disturbed snow formed a wall behind her.

"You got caught up in an avalanche. The snow fell into a crack in the ice and you ended up here." Fubar replied dutifully, "I've tried raising Hawk or Jagi, but our comms are getting too much interference down here."

There was a pause as Jane took that all in, before she sighed and reached up to rub her forehead, only to belatedly realise that she still had her helmet on.

"Well… Shit." Jane groaned instead.

"Indeed." Was her Ghost's dry reply.

Grunting as she picked herself up off the floor, Jane quickly dusted herself off, before reaching up to fix her ruffled cloak back to its proper place around her shoulders.

Once that was sorted, she began searching the snow by her feet. It took her a few moments to spot the camouflaged shape of her rifle buried in the snow, and promptly reached down to pull it free.

"Right then," She sighed, brushing snow off the weapon's scope before pulling the charging handle. "Let's see where this cavern leads then, shall we?"

"Lead the way." Fubar stated as he came to rest at her shoulder, the stream of light widening slightly to give her a better visual of what was in front of her, revealing the cavern to head off at a downward angle.

Setting off, Jane kept her pace slow. The ice and smooth rocks making it difficult to maintain steady traction, even with the spikes in her modified boots, as she headed deeper into the cave, which, after several minutes of silent trekking, started diverging, forcing Jane to pick one to follow.

Finally, after nearly an hour of walking and two dead ends, they came to up to a small hole in the ground that led down, further into the dark.

Not seeing much choice, Jane dropped down, using her Light to cushion her fall, and found herself in a large pit, which in turn split off into three different directions.

"Well," Jane said as she looked from one dark tunnel to the other. "Which way this time?"

"I don't know," Fubar replied, sounding frustrated. "The Ahamkara's disruption magic is messing with my instruments."

Standing there for a moment, Jane searched for anything that might tell here which tunnel would lead her back to the surface. She really didn't want to spend the next day and a half going down each possible route.

The one on the far left seemed to lead down, but Jane wasn't sure if it continued like that, while another seemed to move up, and she racked her head for a solution.

A sudden thought made Jane blink, and she reached down into a pocket in her under-armour, retrieving a small multi-tool. Flipping it open, Jane hit a small catch built into the side, the entire tool shifting to reveal a miniature lighter.

Pressing down the igniter, Jane held up the small flame that burst into existence and watched it carefully as it flickered in front of her.

"Looks like there's a steady flow of air coming in from that one." She noted, flicking the multi-tool closed and putting it away. "Hopefully that draft is coming in from an entrance big enough for us to get out of."

"Or for me to get a signal out." Fubar stated, sounding mildly impressed. "Nice work."

Jane shrugged her shoulders. "Its low tech, hard to disrupt an open flame."

Taking the first tunnel on the left, Jane continued their slow trek. The ground beneath her feet slowly becoming more flat and stable as they moved further and further down.

Eventually, after half an hour of slow walking, light began to appear. Getting brighter as they went, it wasn't long before Jane was forced to turn up the tint on her helmet's visor to keep being able to see.

Finally, they turned one more corner and emerged out into daylight.

However, Jane was forced to stutter to a stop. Instead of leading outside like Jane had been hoping for, the cave opened out into what looked to be a ginormous cavern, surrounded by a domed border of rock and ice.

Before her, in a sunken dais which couldn't have been more than five or six kilometres across, was a forest of trees and undisturbed vegetation. The mass of green and browns from the tops of trees serving to contrast heavily with the white and blacks of the snow and rock that enclosed them.

Pulling down her hood and ripping off her helmet to get a better look, Jane blinked against the rays of sunlight that streamed in from a small hole in the very top of the dome. The light serving to cast the small forest of woodland in golden tones.

Walking up to the edge of the small cliff ledge she was standing on, smiled when she realised that the air was pleasantly cool against her face. It was nowhere near as brutally cold as the open air was outside, and Jane sighed as the last of the bone-chilling cold left her body.

"This is amazing," Fubar finally said, breaking Jane out of her state of awe.

"Yeah." Jane replied. "It's like a small bit of nature was encapsulated in ice and hidden away from the outside world."

After a few more moments of silent marvelling, Fubar spoke again, this time something close to worry entering his voice.

"Err… I'm not seeing any other cave entrances."

Jane shook her head, "I'm sure there's some below the treeline, we'll just have to-"

She was interrupted by an ear-splitting shriek, and Jane reacted on instinct. Diving behind the nearest rock that could conceal her, Jane shoved her helmet back onto her head and shouldered her Wire Rifle.

Fubar disappeared in a flurry of sparks, retreating into her armour for relative safety.

Breathing coming in short burst, Jane felt adrenalin flood her body as she found herself waiting, her eyes glued to her motion tracker.

Waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting

Finally, after a full minute went by without so much as a squawk, Jane relaxed her shoulders slightly and released some of the tension in her muscles.

Peeking her helmeted head over the top of her cover, Jane scanned her surroundings for the source of the noise.

" _By the Traveller's Light, that scared the Shell out of me."_ Fubar stated, his voice coming in through her comms. _"What do you think that was?"_

Before Jane could think up a reply, the sound of rushing air had her bringing her rifle up. The sound serving as the only other warning Jane had before a dark blur rose up from just beyond the ledge she had been previously standing on, and Jane felt her eyes widen behind her helmet as she ducked back down.

Loose snow was sent swirling in all directions, and Fubar let out an exclamation of surprise as the motion tracker suddenly lit up with the sudden movement occurring in front of her.

Staring up, Jane watched on in frozen fear as an enormous lizard-shaped creature with bone white skin and brown scales rose up into the air, large leathery wings stretching out and buffeting the air.

From where she was crouching, Jane was close enough that she could see where the creature's scales had fused with age, forming bone-like plating over its chest, legs and tail.

With another ear-piercing screech, leathery skin rippled as the creature flapped its wings in slow thrusts, and took off at a remarkably fast speed, leaving Jane behind to try and calm her beating heart.

"Jesus H. Christ." She breathed, standing up once it had gone an appreciable distance away. "Was that what I think it was?"

"Yeah," Fubar confirmed with a stunned tone of voice, "And from the size of it alone, that was an Elder Ahamkara as well."

"Holy shit."

 **00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00**

 **Authors Note:**

Well… I'm not dead.

Sorry for such a long wait everyone, I was planning on posting this... like, months ago, but it turns out I needed to resit two modules from my first semester, so I've been unexpectedly busy.

That's all done with though, so hopefully the next one won't take quite as long.

I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I'm aiming for within the next week. Hope to see you all then!

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 **Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.**

 **~ JunkMail**


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